At least 47 percent of Filipino families rated themselves as ‘poor,’ down by just one percent compared to September 2023 figures, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Wednesday, January 17.
The SWS revealed that 33 percent rated themselves as borderline, meaning between ‘poor’ and ‘not poor,’ while 20 percent believe they are ‘not poor.’
The one-point decline in the nationwide percentage of Self-Rated Food-Poor from September 2023 to December 2023 was due to declines in Mindanao and Metro Manila, combined with a slight increase in Balance Luzon, and a steady score in the Visayas.
Self-rated food-poor fell in Mindanao from 51 percent to 43 percent and Metro Manila from 29 percent to 24 percent. However, it rose slightly in Balance Luzon from 24 percent to 27 percent, while it hardly moved in the Visayas from 39 percent to 38 percent.
The survey said that 13 million Filipino families rated themselves as ‘poor’ compared to 13.2 million in September 2023.
“The area estimates were weighted by the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2023 to obtain the national estimates,” according to SWS.
Filipino families who feel a bit better or ‘not poor’ hardly moved in Metro Manila from 33 percent to 35 percent; Mindanao from four percent to six percent; and the Visayas from eight percent to seven percent. However, it fell in Balance Luzon from 40 percent to 27 percent.
On Self-Rated Food Poverty, the December 2023 survey said 32 percent of families believe they are ‘food-poor;’ 41 percent are in between or ‘borderline;’ and 26 percent rated themselves ‘not food-poor.’
Compared to September 2023, the percentage of ‘food poor’ families hardly moved from 34 percent while ‘food borderline’ families rose by six points from 35 percent, and ‘not food-poor’ families fell by five points from 31 percent.
This brings the 2023 annual average of ‘food-poor’ families to 35 percent, two points above the 33 percent recorded in 2022, and four points above the pre-pandemic average of 31 percent in 2019.
The estimated number of self-rated ‘food-poor’ families was 8.9 million in December 2023 and 9.2 million in September 2023.