50% of Filipino families consider themselves poor —SWS survey

Fifty percent or half of Filipino families consider themselves poor, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, up from 49% in June 2025.

The recent figure represents 14.2 million Filipino families, half a million more than the 13.7 million in June who considered themselves poor.

“The 1-point rise in the nationwide Self-Rated Poverty between June 2025 and September 2025 was due to increases in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila), combined with a decline in the Visayas and a steady percentage in Mindanao,” SWS said.

Of the families who identified as poor, 36% never experienced being non-poor (''always poor''), 8.7% were non-poor five or more years ago (''usually poor''), and 5.7% were non-poor one to four years ago ("newly poor").

The recent survey also found the percentage of borderline families is at 12%, up 2 points from the record low of 10% in the June 2025 survey.

Meanwhile, 38% of Filipinos view themselves as not poor, which is 3% less than the 41% in June 2025.

On Self-Rated Food Poverty, which is based on the type of food eaten by their families, 41% of families rate themselves as Food-Poor, 11% said they are Food Borderline, while 47% consider themselves are Not Food-Poor.

“The September 2025 percentage of Self-Rated Food Poor families of 41% was unchanged since April 2025. This was the lowest since 33% in March 2024 and was 3 points below the 2024 annual average of 44%,” SWS said.

The September 2025 survey also revealed that the median monthly family expenses for House rent remain at P3,000 and Transportation to work and school at P2,000.

“However, it rose for Internet from P800, and for Mobile phone load from P300,” the SWS said.  

For the survey, the SWS conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adult Filipinos from September 24 to 30. It has a sampling error margin of ±3% for national percentages, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. — BM, GMA Integrated News