50 percent of families consider themselves poor – SWS

MANILA, Philippines — Fifty percent of Filipino families considers themselves poor, according to a recent survey by Social Weather Stations Inc.

The SWS survey was conducted from Sept. 24 to 30. It was a slip from the 49 percent recorded in a similar survey in June.

SWS said the latest self-rated poverty translated to around 14.2 million, up from the estimated 13.7 million in the previous poll.

Meanwhile, some 38 percent considered their families as “not poor” – down from 41 percent in June.

The remaining 12 percent said they were neither poor nor not poor, described by the polling firm as those on the borderline. It went up from 10 percent in the previous survey.

Across areas, self-rated poverty was highest among those in Mindanao at 69 percent (similar to the previous survey), followed by those in the Visayas at 54 percent (from 60 percent), Metro Manila at 43 percent (from 36 percent) and rest of Luzon at 42 percent (from 38 percent).

The latest survey also found that 41 percent identified their families as “food poor” or poor based on the food they eat, similar to the June survey.

Those who rated their families as “not food-poor” decreased from 49 percent to 47 percent, while those who considered their families as “borderline food poor” increased from 10 percent to 11 percent.

Self-rated food poverty was highest among respondents in Mindanao at 61 percent (from 60 percent), followed by those in the Visayas at 40 percent (from 44 percent), Metro Manila at 35 percent (from 31 percent) and rest of Luzon at 33 percent (from 34 percent).