Self-rated poverty highest in 5 years — SWS

MANILA, Philippines — After decreasing to a historic low at the start of last year, the number of Filipinos who considered their families as poor last month reached its highest in five years, according to the latest survey of Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey, conducted from Dec. 13 to 16 with the results released on Thursday, showed self-rated poverty in the country rising to 54 percent or an estimated 13.1 million families in December.

This is 12 points higher than the 42 percent or the estimated 10.3 million Filipinos who considered their families as poor in a similar survey conducted in September 2019.

The country’s self-rated poverty reached its lowest in March last year at 38 percent, translating to an estimated 9.5 million Filipino families. It helped pull down the 2019 average to 45 percent, which is still slightly lower than the 48 percent in 2018 and 46 percent in 2017.

On its latest survey, SWS said self-rated poverty rose across all geographic areas, the highest of which was among respondents from Metro Manila, from 25 percent in September to 41 percent in December.

It increased 13 points in the rest of Luzon, from 34 percent to 47 percent, and 11 points in Mindanao, from 53 percent to 64 percent.

Self-rated poverty also increased among respondents from the Visayas, from 59 percent to 67 percent.

Of those who rated their families as poor, seven percent or 1.6 million were classified as “newly poor” or those who did not consider themselves as poor in the last four years. Some 40 percent, translating to around 9.7 million, said they were always poor.

Food poor

SWS also found that the number of Filipinos who said that their families are “food-poor” or those who rated themselves as poor based on the food they eat increased by six points to 35 percent or 8.6 million.

Self-rated food poverty also reached its record low in March last year with 27 percent, before rising to 35 percent in June and dropping to 29 percent in September.

It increased 14 points among respondents in Mindanao from 36 percent to 50 percent and 11 points in Metro Manila from 16 percent to 27 percent.

It also increased among respondents in the Visayas, from 42 percent to 46 percent, and the rest of Luzon, from 24 percent to 25 percent.

According to SWS, the self-rated poverty threshold or the amount needed by poor families for them not to be poor increased from P10,000 per month in September to P12,000 in December. The amount needed by families in order for their food not be considered poor remained at P5,000 per month.

The survey had 1,200 adult respondents and an error margin of +/- three percent for national percentages.