OCTA: Self-rated poverty down from 37% to 35% before global oil price shock

Self-rated poverty among Filipino families declined from 37% to 35% before the global oil price shock linked to the Middle East tensions, according to an OCTA Research survey released Wednesday.

Conducted March 19 to 25, 2025, the Tugon ng Masa (TNM) survey in the first quarter of 2026 showed that around 9.2 million families considered themselves poor.

This was lower than the about 9.8 million in December 2025. 

“While this suggests that roughly 600,000 fewer families considered themselves poor during the quarter, the difference is not statistically significant and remains within the survey’s margin of error, indicating that overall poverty conditions remained broadly stable,” OCTA said.

Around 24% of the respondents said they are “not poor,” while 41% said they cannot say if they are poor or not poor.

Self-rated poverty remained highest in Mindanao at 56%, followed by the Visayas at 44%.

By socioeconomic class, self-rated poverty was higher among lower-income households as 58% of Class E families considered themselves poor, compared with 35% among Class D and 15% among Class ABC.

The findings highlight the continued concentration of poverty among poorer households despite relatively stable national conditions, according to OCTA.

“Taken together, the slight national decline in self-rated poverty may suggest a modest improvement in overall economic conditions,” OCTA said.

“However, the contrasting regional trends point to an uneven recovery, with gains concentrated in NCR and parts of Mindanao while other areas experienced setbacks. The persistently high poverty rates in Mindanao and among lower-income groups further indicate that many households remain economically vulnerable,” it added.

Food poverty also showed minimal movement, rising slightly from 30% to 31%, which is around 8.1 million families. 

Meanwhile, self-rated hunger was at 17%, or around 4.5 million families, which was slightly lower than 16%, or 4.2 million families in December 2025, who said they had nothing to eat at least once.

The non-commissioned survey covered 1,200 respondents aged 18 and above, both male and female, through face-to-face interviews.

OCTA said the survey has a ±3% margin of error at a 95% confidence level. Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the survey have margins of error of ±6% for NCR, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, also at a 95% confidence level. —AOL, GMA News