The Social Weather Stations (SWS) found that for the first quarter of the year, 46% of Filipino families, or almost half of them, regarded themselves to be poor. 33% said that they felt they were food insecure.
Thirty percent of Filipino families evaluated themselves as neither poor nor not poor, according to the non-commissioned study, the remaining twenty-three percent indicated they were not poor according to the survey conducted from March 21-25.
In December 2023, a similar study was conducted and the results showed that 47% of Filipinos considered themselves to be poor, 33% were borderline, and 20% were not poor.
According to the SWS, “the estimated numbers of self-rated poor families were 13.0 million in December 2023 and 12.9 million in March 2024.”
The minor declines in Mindanao and Metro Manila, the increase in the Visayas, and the stable score in Balance Luzon were cited as the reasons for the one-point fall in self-rated poverty.
The Visayas accounted for the largest share (64%), with Mindanao coming in second at 56%, Balance Luzon at 38%, and Metro Manila at 33%.
In the meanwhile, the study revealed that 31% of households said they were not food-poor, 36% said they were borderline, and 33% said they were.
