SWS: 12.9M families rate themselves poor in last quarter 2022

About 12.9 million or 51% of Filipino families have rated themselves poor in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the national Social Weather Survey on Self-Rated Poverty (SRP) released on Thursday but conducted in December 2022.

The figure is slightly higher compared to October 2022 in which 49% rated themselves poor.

The estimated number of Self-Rated Poor families are 12.9 million in December 2022 and 12.6 million in October 2022.

At least 31% of families rated themselves as Borderline, by placing themselves on a horizontal line dividing Poor and Not Poor. This figure rose slightly from 29% in October 2022.

In the latest survey, 19% of families rated themselves as Not Poor,  a slight decrease from October survey's 21%.

The SWS has measured Self-Rated Poverty (SRP) quarterly through face-to-face surveys since 1992, except in the first three quarters of 2020 due to lack of public transportation during the pandemic. The SRP surveys were resumed in the 4th quarter of 2020.

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

The hike in the nationwide figure was due to an increase of self-rate poor families in Balance Luzon, from 36% to 49%.

The figures were lower in Metro Manila from 44% to 32%, in the Visayas from 68% to 58%, and in Mindanao from 64% to 59%.

There was an increase in those that rated themselves Borderline poor rose in the Visayas from 21% to 34%, in Metro Manila from 23% to 29%, and in Mindanao from 28% to 30%. In Balance Luzon, however, the figure decreased from 35% to 30%.

The families that rated themselves Not Poor increase in Metro Manila from 33% to 39% and in Mindanao from 8% to 11%. But figures decreased in Balance Luzon from 29% to 20% and in the Visayas from 11% to 9%.

Self-rated Food Poverty

The estimated numbers of Self-Rated Food Poor families are 8.7 million in both December 2022 and October 2022, according to the same survey.

Self-Rated Food Poverty, based on the type of food eaten by their families, the December 2022 survey found 34% of families rating themselves as Food-Poor, 38% rating themselves as Food Borderline, and 28% rating themselves Not Food-Poor.

Comparing the December 2022 results to the October 2022 survey, there are no changes in the percentages for food-poor, food borderline, and not food poor.

Newly poor

Of the estimated 12.9 million Self-Rated Poor families in October 2022, 2.0 million were Newly Poor, 1.5 million were Usually Poor, and 9.4 million were Always Poor.

The December 2022 survey asked the Self-Rated Poor if they had ever experienced being non-poor (either not poor or borderline) in the past. The total percentage of poor families consists of 8.0% who were non-poor 1-4 years ago (“Newly Poor”), 5.8% who were non-poor five or more years ago (“Usually Poor”), and 37.0% who never experienced being non-poor (“Always Poor”). -- BAP, GMA Integrated News