OCTA: Pinoys' poverty, food poverty self-ratings decline sharply in Q4 2025

Public opinion pollster OCTA Research reported Tuesday significant improvements in Filipinos' self-ratings for both poverty and food poverty, although these were accompanied by an uptick in hunger.

According to its latest Tugon ng Masa survey, 37% of respondents, equivalent to about 9.8 million Filipino families, considered themselves poor in December last year.

This marked a 17% decrease from September 2025's mark of 54%, or around 14.3 million families.

OCTA Research said the drop was the largest recorded single-quarter decline of self-rated poverty throughout their survey history.

"This shift represents an estimated 4.5 million Filipino families who no longer consider themselves poor within a single quarter and marks a clear break from all prior TNM trend movements, both in scale and speed," OCTA said.

In terms of food poverty, an even larger single-quarter drop of 19% was registered. From 49% in September 2025, the figure eased to 30% or equivalent to 7.9 million Filipino families.

The research firm said, "This change translates to roughly 5 million families who perceived themselves as better able to meet their food needs within one quarter and represents one of the fastest shifts in food poverty perceptions in the TNM series."

Regional disparities

Most of the respondents who gave negative self-ratings for poverty (67%) and food poverty (64%) came from Mindanao.

Visayas came in second with 40% of respondents deeming themselves poor, and 33% as food-poor.

"Mindanao continues to post the highest poverty and hunger rates, and in several indicators recorded further increases, underscoring the persistence of regional disparities and the need for region-specific policy responses," OCTA said.

Among families which considered themselves food poor, the median monthly household expense required to exit food poverty was pegged at P10,000. The median additional amount needed to achieve this goal, the study said, was P5,000 per month.

OCTA said these indicate that "relatively modest changes in income or prices can significantly influence food poverty perceptions."

Hunger

Meanwhile, self-rated hunger increased to 16%, roughly 4.2 million families, in December 2025, up 5 percentage points from 11% in September last year.

Incidence of involuntary hunger was highest in Metro Manila and Visayas, both at 22%. Mindanao followed at 19%

"Nearly 80% of affected families reported that hunger occurred only once or a few times, rather than frequently or continuously," the survey noted.

Data used in the survey was gathered through face-to-face interviews of 1,200 respondents conducted between December 3 to 11, 2025 nationwide.

The survey has a ±3% margin of error at the 95% confidence level. — VDV, GMA Integrated News