Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 12) — Fifty-one percent of Filipino families or around 12.9 million households consider themselves poor, according to a survey released by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on Thursday.
Compared to October 2022, the SWS said the number of self-rated poor families rose from 12.6 million.
The Fourth Quarter 2022 poll also showed 31% of families rated themselves as “borderline” or in the middle, while 19% felt they were not poor.
Out of the 12.9 million “poor” families, the SWS said 8% were non-poor one to four years ago, and 5.8% were non-poor five or more years ago.
“In the last four quarters, the national median Self-Rated Poverty Threshold (minimum monthly budget) stayed at ₱15,000, while the national median Self-Rated Poverty Gap fell from ₱6,000 in October 2022 to ₱5,000 in December 2022,” the SWS added.
The survey was conducted from Dec. 10 to 14 last year, through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults.
