46 percent of Pinoy families feel poor – SWS

MANILA, Philippines — Almost one in every two Filipino families rated themselves poor in the first quarter of the year, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) found.

Results of the March 21 to 25 survey released on Thursday found that 46 percent of the respondents rated their families as “poor.”

It hardly changed from the 47 percent obtained in a similar survey in December 2023.

According to SWS, the latest self-rated poverty translates to an estimated 12.9 million poor families in March 2024, slightly down from 13 million in December 2023.

Meanwhile, those who rated their families as “not poor” increased from 20 percent in December 2023 to 23 percent in March 2024.

Those who rated themselves as “borderline poor” went down from 33 percent to 31 percent.

Across areas, self-rated poverty was highest among those in the Visayas at 64 percent (from 58 percent), followed by those in Mindanao at 56 percent (from 61 percent), balance Luzon at 38 percent (from 39 percent) and Metro Manila at 33 percent (from 37 percent).

Those who rated their families as “not poor” was highest among those in Metro Manila at 41 percent (from 35 percent), followed by those in the rest of Luzon at 41 percent (from 35 percent), Visayas at 11 percent (from seven percent) and Mindanao at nine percent (from six percent).

Food poverty

The survey also asked respondents to rate their respective families based on the food they eat.

Some 33 percent said they consider their families as “food-poor” in the first quarter of the year, almost similar to the 32 percent in December.

Those who rated their families as “not food-poor” in the latest survey increased from 26 percent to 31 percent, while those who considered their families as “borderline food-poor” dropped from 41 percent to 36 percent.

Self-rated food poverty was highest among respondents in the Visayas at 46 percent (from 38 percent), followed by those in Mindanao at 44 percent (from 43 percent), Metro Manila at 28 percent (from 24 percent) and the rest of Luzon at 24 percent (from 27 percent).

The SWS 2024 First Quarter Survey had 1,500 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus 2.5 percent for national percentages.