Poor Pinoy families rise to 10.9 million – SWS

MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos who consider their families as “poor” has slightly increased to 10.9 million, a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) last month showed.

Results of the April 19 to 27 survey released yesterday showed that 43 percent of the 1,440 respondents considered their families as “poor.”

While this is similar to the 43 percent who said their families were poor in a survey conducted last December, SWS said the estimated number increased from 10.7 million to 10.9 million.

Meanwhile, the number of respondents who rated their families as “borderline poor” dropped from 39 percent in December to 34 percent in April.

Those who said their families were “not poor” rose from 19 percent to 23 percent.

According to SWS, the steady self-rated poverty between December 2021 and April 2022 was due to increases in Mindanao and Metro Manila, combined with decreases in the Visayas and balance Luzon.

Self-rated poverty was highest among respondents in Mindanao at 60 percent (up from 43 percent), followed by those in the Visayas at 48 percent (down from 59 percent), balance Luzon at 35 percent (down from 41 percent) and Metro Manila at 32 percent.

Meanwhile, those who rated their families as “borderline poor” were highest among those in the Visayas at 46 percent (up from 33 percent), followed by those in Metro Manila at 42 percent (down from 47 percent), Mindanao at 33 percent (down from 48 percent) and balance Luzon at 28 percent (down from 48 percent).

Respondents who said their families were “not poor” were highest in balance Luzon at 37 percent (up from 25 percent), followed by those in Metro Manila at 26 percent (down from 28 percent), Mindanao at seven percent (from nine percent) and the Visayas at six percent (from eight percent).

Food poor

The number of Filipinos who considered their families are “food poor” – or those who rated themselves as poor based on the food that they eat – remained at 31 percent.

Compared with survey results last December, the number of those who rated their families as “food poor” increased in Mindanao (31 percent to 49 percent) and Metro Manila (21 percent to 25percent)

It decreased in the Visayas (41 percent to 31 percent) and balance Luzon (31 percent to 24 percent).

The survey had an error margin of plus or minus 2.6 percent for national percentages.