The percentage of poor Filipino families who considered themselves “mahirap” or poor has declined to a new record-low of 42 percent, equivalent to 9.4 million families, the latest Social Weather Stations survey released yesterday said.
The nationwide survey conducted from September 24 to 27 among 1,200 respondents found out that 42 percent claimed they have experienced hunger in the past three months, down from 45 percent or an estimated 10.5 million households in the June survey.
The survey question directed to the respondents was “Saan po ninyo ilalagay ang inyong pamilya sa kard na ito?” A showcard with the choices “hindi mahirap”, “sa linya”, and “mahirap” was shown.
SWS said this is the lowest self-rated poverty rate since it started the survey in April 1983 and is lower than the previous record-low of 43 percent recorded in March 1987 and March 2010.
The pollster also pointed out that the self-rated poverty result “has been either steady or declining for eight consecutive quarters”, 52 percent in December 2014, 51 percent in March 2015 and June 2015, 50 percent n September 2015 and December 2015, 46 percent in April 2016, 45 percent in June 2016, and 42 percent in September 2016.
The SWS attributed the three-point decline in self-rated poverty to the fewer number of Filipino families claiming they are poor in the rest of Luzon (from 41 percent to 34 percent) and Mindanao (from 54 percent to 49 percent).
However, self-rated poverty increased in Metro Manila (from 32 percent to 36 percent) and Visayas (from 52 percent to 56 percent).
