By Christine Fabro
Self-rated “poor” Filipino families remained at 51% since December 2022, the latest Social Weather Stations survey (SWS) revealed.
“The steady nationwide Self-Rated Poor figure between December 2022 and March 2023 was due to increases in Metro Manila and the Visayas, combined with a decline in Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila) and a steady score in Mindanao,” SWS noted.
Meanwhile, 30% rated themselves as “borderline” and 19% rated themselves as “not poor.”
According to SWS, the estimated numbers of self-rated poor families are 14 million in March 2023 and 12.9 million in December 2022.
SWS reported an increase in self-rated “poor” Filipinos in Metro Manila from 32% in December 2022 to 40% in March 2023.
Visayas also logged a rise in the number of self-rated “poor” families from 58% in December last year to 65% in March this year, while it fell in Balance Luzon from 49% to 43% and in Mindanao, moving from 59% to 62%.
SWS stressed that some 1.8 million of 14 million self-rated poor or 6.5% Filipino families are “newly poor.”
Another 1.8 million were “usually poor,” while some 10.4 million said they were “always poor.”
The first quarter 2023 SWS survey was conducted among 1,200 Filipino adults nationwide from March 26–29, 2023. -ag
