11.6 million Pinoy families consider themselves poor in Q4 — SWS

MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos who consider their families poor went down to 11.6 million in the fourth quarter of last year, according to a recent survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey, conducted from Dec. 16 to 19 with the results released on Friday night, showed self-rated poverty in the country decreasing by two points to 50 percent from 52 percent in a similar survey conducted in September.

This meant an estimated decrease of about 600,000 in the number of Filipinos who said their families are poor, from an estimated 12.2 million to 11.6 million.

Despite the decrease in the past three months, SWS said the average self-rated poverty rating for 2018 of 48 percent is still two points higher than the average 46 percent in 2017.

SWS noted that the number of Filipinos who identified their families as poor increased by 10 points in the second and third quarters, before easing in the latest survey.

The two-point decrease was due to the sharp drop in Mindanao and slight decrease in the Visayas, offset by increases in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon.

It fell 16 points in Mindanao, from 65 percent in September to 49 percent in December, while it dropped six points in the Visayas, from 67 percent to 61 percent.

Meanwhile, self-rated poverty in Metro Manila jumped from 26 percent to 30 percent, while it increased from 47 percent to 51 percent in the rest of Luzon.

The survey showed that the self-rated poverty threshold, or the monthly amount needed by a family for them to not consider themselves poor, remained at P10,000.

Those who considered their families poor said they lacked an average of P5,000 every month in order for them to reach their stated poverty threshold.

Food-poor

Meanwhile, SWS found that the number of Filipinos who said their families are “food-poor” – or those who rated themselves as poor based on the food that they eat – dropped to 34 percent or 7.9 million.

This is down two points from the 36 percent or an estimated 8.5 million families recorded in September.

The annual average of self-rated food poverty in 2018 was at 33 percent, similar to the average in 2017.

The survey had 1,440 adult respondents and an error margin of +/- three percent for the national percentages.