Self-Rated Poverty Falls to Record Low 38%: SWS

Fewer Filipinos consider themselves poor based on the results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey for the first quarter of 2019.

Of the families surveyed in their polls from March 28 to 31, 2019, a record-low 38 percent or an estimated 9.5 million families consider themselves as poor.

“This is 12 points below the 50 percent (est. 11.6 million) in December 2018, and 4 points below the previous record-low of 42 percent in September 2016 and March 2018,” the SWS reported.

According to the polling firm, this new record-low Self-Rated Poverty score is “a continuing recovery from the 10-point rise within the first three quarters of 2018.”

The proportion of Self-Rated Poor families rose from 42 percent in March 2018, to 48 percent in June 2018, and 52 percent in September 2018. It subsided by two points to 50 percent in December and fell to 38 percent in March 2019.

According to the SWS, the Self-Rated Poverty was down in all areas and record-low in Mindanao.

It attributed the overall decline to decreases of 16 points in Balance Luzon, 12 points in Mindanao, six points in the Visayas, and two points in Metro Manila.

From 51 percent in December 2018, the Self-Rated Poverty went down to 35 percent in the first quarter of 2019 for Balance Luzon, while it recorded a huge decrease in Mindanao from 49 percent in December to 37 percent this March.

In the Visayas, it fell by six points from 61 percent in December to 55 percent. In Metro Manila, it fell by two points from 30 percent in December to 28 percent in March.

The same survey also found a new record-low 27 percent (est. 6.8 million) of Filipinos rating their food as Mahirap or Poor, termed by SWS as Food-Poor.

“This is seven points below the 34 percent (est. 7.9 million) in December 2018, and two points below the previous record-low of 29 percent,” it said.

Among others, the March 2019 survey concluded that 15.3 percent of Filipino families are newly out of poverty.

Of the 62 percent Self-Rated Non-Poor families, it said 15 percent used to be poor 1-4 years ago (newly non-poor) and 20 percent used to be poor five or more years ago (usually non-poor).

The March 2019 Social Weather Stations Survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults aged 18 years old and above nationwide: 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. (PNA)