SWS Survey: Nearly 50% of Pinoy families consider themselves poor

A survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from end of September to early October revealed that 49% or .nearly half of Filipino families consider themselves poor

The nationwide survey by SWS was conducted from September 29 to October 2, it was first under the Marcos administration, and showed that 49% of Filipino families considered themselves poor.

The survey firm estimates this percentage at 12.6 million families which is barely an increase from the 49% or 12.2 million families recorded in the group’s similar poll conducted at the end of June 2022.

It also said that around 29% rated themselves as borderline poor, which SWS described as the “horizontal line dividing poor and not poor,” while 21% ranked themselves not poor.

Meanwhile, self-rated poor families increased in all areas, except Balance Luzon, areas outside Metro Manila, the survey showed.

The 1% increase from the June 2022 survey was caused by the slight increases in Visayas, Metro Manila, and Mindanao, combined with a steady percentage in Balance Luzon, the SWS explained.

It also showed that families who considered themselves as “food-poor” are at 34%, “borderline food-poor” at 38% and the remaining as “not food-poor.”

The SWS’ food-poverty results are based on the type of food the families consume.

The nationwide survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adult respondents who are 18 years old and above.

Respondents were divided 300 each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao, while 600 in Balance Luzon.

The survey sampling error margins are ±2.5% for national percentages, ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, and ±4.0% for Balance Luzon.

The area estimates were weighted by the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2022 to obtain the national estimates.