MANILA, Philippines — The proportion of Filipino families considering themselves poor slightly eased in the last three months of 2017, a Social Weather Stations survey found.
According to a fourth quarter survey of 1,200 Filipinos conducted on December 8-16, 44 percent (est. 10.9 million) of families consider themselves poor, three points below the 47 percent (estimated 10.9 million) recorded in the previous quarter.
That brought 2017’s self-rated poverty average to 46 percent, two points short of the record-low average of 44 percent in 2016.
SWS attributed the three-point decline in the fourth quarter nationwide self-rated poverty to decreases in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, and Visayas that were offset by a seven-point rise in Mindanao.
“We assure everyone that no one will be left behind in the Duterte administration,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in response to the poll.
Food-poor steadies
The December poll also reported that the proportion of families rating the food they eat as poor, termed by the SWS as “food-poor,” steadied at 32 percent (estimated 7.3 million).
That gave an average self-rated food poverty of 33 percent for the year 2017, two points above the record-low 31 percent in 2016.
The survey has sampling error margins of ±2.5% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao