Forty-five percent or an estimated 12.5 million Filipino families considered themselves as poor in the second quarter of 2023, according to the national survey conducted by the Social Weather Survey (SWS).
The results of the SWS national survey released on Sunday showed that self-rated poor in Q2 is a sign of "recovery" as this showed a decline from the 51 percent recorded in March 2023.
"The 6-point decline in the nationwide Self-Rated Poor figure between March 2023 and June 2023 was due to decreases in all areas," SWS said.
The self-rated poor significantly diminished in the following areas:
- Visayas - from 65 percent to 57 percent
- Mindanao - from 62 percent to 54 percent
- Metro Manila - from 40 percent to 35 percent
- Balance Luzon - from 43 percent to 39 percent
- Meanwhile, the SWS polls also showed that 33 percent of Filipinos placed themselves between the border of poor and not poor.
"Borderline hardly moved in Metro Manila from 26% to 23% and in the Visayas from 26% to 28%, while it stayed at 33% in Mindanao. However, it rose in Balance Luzon from 32% to 38%," the agency said.
On the other hand, 22 percent of Filipinos regarded themselves as hindi mahirap or not poor.
In Metro Manila, the SWS noted that the percentage of not poor has increased from March to June, from 33 percent to 42 percent.
An increase in self-rated not poor was also observed in Visayas, from 9 percent to 15 percent, and in Mindanao, from 6 percent to 13 percent. But it hardly changes in Balance Luzon from 25% to 23%.
The Q2 Survey was conducted from June 28 to July 1.
A total of 1,500 adults participated in the face-to-face interviews — 600 in Balance Luzon, and 300 each in Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao
The participants were asked of the question “Saan po ninyo ilalagay ang inyong pamilya sa kard na ito?" and they were directed to tap the cards of not poor, poor, borderline poor, and not poor.
