SWS: More Filipino families consider themselves poor in Q2

MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos consider themselves poor during the April-May period, a new Social Weather Stations survey found.

According to a second quarter poll of 1,200 adults, 48 percent (estimated 11.1 million) families consider themselves poor, six points above the 42 percent (estimated 9.8 million families) in March and was the highest since the 50 percent in the first quarter of 2017.

The six-point nationwide increase in Self-Rated Poverty in the second quarter was due to sharp increases in Mindanao, Metro Manila and Visayas that were offset by a slight decrease in Balance Luzon. Meanwhile, 12 percent of self-rated poor families transitioned out of poverty.

The monthly budget that a poor household needs for home expenses in order not to consider itself poor in general is P15,000.

In the same report, SWS said the proportion of families who rate their food as “poor” likewise surged by five points to 34 percent. The monthly budget that a food-poor household needs for food expenses in order not to consider its food as poor is unchanged at P6,000.

The five-point rise in the nationwide Self-Rated Food Poverty in the second quarter of 2018 was due to increases in Mindanao, Metro Manila and Balance Luzon, and an unchanged proportion in Visayas.

The survey has sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral