Fewer Filipino families consider themselves as poor or “mahirap,” bringing the number to a new record-low of 38 percent or an estimated 9.5 million Filipinos in the first quarter of 2019.
In the nationwide survey conducted from March 28 to 31 among 1,440 respondents, the Social Weather Stations found out that 38 percent consider themselves poor, 12 points below the 50 percent or about 11.6 million households in December 2018.
It is also four points below the previous record-low of 42 percent in September 2016 and March 2018.
SWS attributed the 12-point decline in nationwide self-rated poverty in the first quarter of 2019 to decreases of 16 points in the rest of Luzon, 12 points in Mindanao, six points in Visayas, and two points in Metro Manila.
According to SWS, the new record-low self-rated poverty score is a continuing recovery from the 10-point rise within the first three quarters of 2018.
The proportion of self-rated poor families rose from 42 percent in March 2018 to 48 percent in June 2018, and 52 percent in September 2018. It subsided by two points to 50 percent in December and fell to 38 percent in March 2019.
Buoyed by the survey, the government has vowed to “grind daily” to lift six million Filipinos out of poverty by the end of President Duterte’s term.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said they welcome the latest survey results on record-low self-rated poverty and remain committed to reduce the country’s poverty incidence to 14 percent in 2022.
“The Duterte administration continues to break barriers. The Palace welcomes the continuous improving sentiment of Filipino families that no longer consider themselves poor,” he said. “Poverty reduction efforts, particularly those designed for the lowest rung of society, remains on track,” he added.
He said the government aims “to reduce poverty from 21.6 percent in 2015 to 14 percent in 2022, which is equivalent to lifting about six million Filipinos out of poverty by the end of the President’s term.”
“And we will grind daily to reach this goal,” he added. (Ellalyn V. Ruiz and Genalyn Kabiling)
