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10.5 million families consider themselves poor, lowest rate since 2011 —SWS


Some 10.5 million families in the Philippines classified themselves as poor, the latest Social Weather Stations survey showed.

The figure represents 45 percent of respondents in a survey conducted June 24 to 27 among 1,200 adults nationwide, News To Go reported on Thursday.

This is lower than the 46 percent of respondents in an April SWS survey who said they were poor.

"This is the lowest Self-Rated Poverty rate in over four years, since 45 percent in December 2011," SWS said.

The lowest self-rated poverty was 43 percent in March 2010, SWS said. It was the same in March 1987.

 


 


The latest poll was conducted days before Rodrigo Duterte took his oath of office as President.

Before he was elected, Duterte said he will pursue an annual economic growth of 7 to 8 percent or even higher to cut poverty.

The survey had sampling error margins of ±3 points for national percentages and ±6 points each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Regional figures

Self-rated poverty in Visayas decreased to 52 percent in the latest survey from 57 percent in April.

This was below the average in 2015 of 66 percent.

Those who saw themselves as poor in Balance Luzon were 44 percent of respondents. In April, the figure was at 41 percent. Average rate in 2015 was 43 percent.

In Metro Manila, meanwhile, 32 percent considered themselves poor. In April, 30 percent saw themselves as poor in the National Capital Region. The average rate in 2015 for self-poverty in the region was 33 percent.

Fifty-four percent of respondents in Mindanao, meanwhile, rated themselves as poor. This is higher by one percent from the 53 percent last April. The average rate of self-poverty in Mindanao in 2015 was 63 percent.

 


 


Food-poor

Asked if the food they eat can be considered "mahirap," some 6.9 million families or 31 percent of respondents said yes.

The figure is the same as that in the April poll.

"This is 4 points below the 35 percent four-quarter average of 2015, and the lowest Self-Rated Food-Poverty rate in over five years, since the record-low 31 percent was first achieved in March 2010," the survey firm said.

 


 


In NCR, the number of food-poor was 20 percent (down from 22 percent in April). This was the lowest since March 2015. The average rate in 2015 for the region was 22 percent.

In Balance Luzon, food poverty rate was 27 percent in the latest poll, down two points from the 29 percent in April. 

The food-poor rose in Visayas, however. The rate was 37 percent in June, an increase from the 33 percent in April. The average rate in 2015 for the region was 44 percent.

Meanwhile, in Mindanao, the food poverty rate was 39 percent, up two points from the 37 percent in April. The 2015 average rate for the region was 51 percent.

 


 


Poverty threshold

Respondents also raised the benchmarks for considering if they were food-poor and financially poor.

The median self-rated poverty threshold based on the June survey was:

  • P20,000 in Metro Manila;
  • P15,000 in Balance Luzon;
  • P10,000 in Visayas and Mindanao.

 

 


 


This represents the lowest monthly home expense budget the families need so as not to consider themselves poor.

SWS said, "The June 2016 median Self-Rated Poverty thresholds in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon and Mindanao are at the highest levels ever reached in those areas."

 


As for the median food poverty threshold or the lowest food budget monthly that families need so as not to consider themselves food-poor, these were:

  • P10,000 in Metro Manila;
  • P8,000 in Balance Luzon;
  • P5,000 in Visayas and Mindanao.

"April 2016 median Self-Rated Food Poverty threshold in the Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao are at the highest levels ever reached in those areas," SWS said. —KG, GMA News

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