Fewer Filipino families have considered themselves poor or “mahirap” in the past three months, the latest Social Weather Stations survey released yesterday revealed.
In the nationwide survey conducted Sept. 27 to 30 among 1,800 respondents, 42 percent or about 10.3 million households considered themselves poor.
This is lower than the 45 percent or about 11 million families in June 2019.
The three-point decrease in the national proportion of self-rated poor families in the third quarter of 2019 is due to decreases of six points in Metro Manila, six points in the rest of Luzon, and three points in Mindanao, combined with a four-point increase in Visayas.
The SWS also found out that of the estimated 24.6 million total Filipino households, 13 percent or an estimated 3.2 million families used to be poor one to four years ago (“newly non-poor”) and 15.7 percent or about 3.9 million used to be poor five or more years ago (“usually non-poor”).
SWS said 29.4 percent or 7.3 million families have never considered themselves as poor (“always non-poor”).
These figures add up to the 58 percent of families who consider themselves non-poor in September 2019.
Moreover, 5.6 percent or 1.4 million families used to be non-poor one to four years ago (“newly poor”), and 5.4 percent (1.3 million households) used to be non-poor five or more years ago (“usually poor”), while 30.7 percent (7.6 million families) have always considered themselves as poor (“always poor”). (Ellalyn Ruiz)