Self-rated poverty down slightly in Q3

MANILA, Philippines - The number of Filipinos who claim to be mahirap or poor remained unchanged in the third quarter of the year, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in its latest report.

Based on the SWS poll taken from Sept. 3 to 5, 50 percent of respondents or around 11 million rated themselves mahirap or poor, a point lower than the 51 percent or around 11.2 million families recorded in the June survey.

SWS said the latest poverty figure was the lowest since the 49 percent recorded in June 2013.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.

It has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus six percentage points each for Metro Manila, “balance Luzon,” the Visayas and Mindanao.

The pollster attributed the one-point decline in self-rated poverty rate nationwide to drops in balance Luzon and Metro Manila that were offset by an increase in the Visayas and a steady rate in Mindanao.

Self-rated poverty fell by five points to 38 percent in balance Luzon. This is the lowest figure for the area since August 2012’s 38 percent, the SWS noted.

In Metro Manila, self-rated poverty declined a point to 32 percent.

It stayed at 70 percent in Mindanao, while it rose by eight points to 66 percent in the Visayas.

Meanwhile, the same survey showed that the number of Filipinos who claimed to be “food-poor” barely changed in September.

Thirty-five percent of respondents – or about 7.8 million families – considered the type of food they eat as “food-poor,” two points below the 37 percent or an estimated 8.1 million in June.

According to the SWS, September’s rate was the same as in August 2012 and the lowest since March 2010’s 31 percent.

SWS said the two-point decline in self-rated food poverty was due to declines in Mindanao, balance Luzon and Metro Manila, and a steady score of 40 percent in the Visayas.

It fell by four points to 54 percent in Mindanao, by two points to 27 percent in “balance Luzon” and by a point to 22 percent in Metro Manila.

The poll also found that the median self-rated poverty threshold – the lowest monthly home expense budget needed by the poorer half of poor households not to consider themselves as such – fell to P15,000 (from P20,000 in June) in Metro Manila, as well as flat at P10,000 in balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

“The September 2015 median self-rated poverty threshold in Mindanao is at the highest levels ever reached in this area,” the SWS noted.

The median food poverty threshold – the lowest monthly food budget needed by the poorer half of “food-poor” families not to consider themselves as such – was P8,500 (from P10,000 in June) in Metro Manila, as well as flat at a record P5,000 in balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Results of the latest SWS survey on poverty were published in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday.