MANILA — In a recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), a staggering 53.6% of Filipino families declared themselves as “non-poor” for the first quarter of 2024.

The study, carried out from March 21 to 25, unveiled that within this percentage, 30% were categorized as borderline non-poor, while 23% firmly identified as not poor.

Comparing these figures to the December 2023 survey, there’s a notable decline of 3 points in borderline families, dropping from 33%, while not-poor households increased by 3 points, rising from 20%.

Meanwhile, the survey also highlighted that 46% of families still perceived themselves as poor, a figure barely fluctuating from the previous survey’s 47%.

The estimated count of self-declared non-poor and poor households stands at 14.9 million and 12.9 million, respectively.

Geographically, the survey observed a slight dip in the self-rated poor figure nationwide between December 2023 and March 2024, attributed to marginal decreases in Mindanao and Metro Manila, juxtaposed with an uptick in the Visayas and stable figures in Balance Luzon.

As of March 2024, the Visayas recorded the highest percentage of self-rated poor families at 64%, followed by Mindanao at 56%, Balance Luzon at 38%, and Metro Manila at 33%.

The survey also delved into the experiences of self-rated non-poor families, revealing that among them, 15.6% were previously poor, termed as “newly non-poor,” while 10.1% had experienced poverty five or more years ago, labeled as “usually non-poor.” Astonishingly, 27.8% had never encountered poverty, known as “always non-poor.”

Conversely, among the 46% identifying as poor, 6% or roughly 1.7 million families were categorized as “newly poor,” while 5.3% or about 1.5 million families were labeled “usually poor.” A staggering 34.9% or 9.7 million families perceived themselves as “always poor.”

The SWS reported that the national median Self-Rated Poverty Threshold (SRP Threshold), standing at PHP15,000 in the past nine quarters, remained unchanged. However, the national median Self-Rated Poverty Gap (SRP Gap) decreased from PHP7,000 in December 2023 to PHP5,000 in March 2024, indicating an improvement.

In terms of self-rated food poverty, the survey revealed that 33% of families identified as food-poor, 36% as food borderline, and 31% as not food-poor in March 2024. While these percentages remained relatively stable compared to December 2023, the estimated number of self-rated food-poor families stood at 9.3 million.

The survey, conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 respondents nationwide, boasts sampling error margins of ±2.5% for national percentages, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

(el Amigo/MNM)

Photo courtesy of Social Weather Stations

By Junex Doronio

MANILA — For the 30 percent of Filipinos surveyed by Social Weather Stations (SWS), life for them only got worse and 41 percent said there has been no change to their quality of life.

On Sunday, the SWS claimed that its September 28-October 1 national survey “found 28% of adult Filipinos said the quality of their lives was better than twelve months before while 30% averred it got worse and 41% claimed it was the same compared to a year ago.”

The SWS referred to the 28 percent who apparently see life as the proverbial “half-full” in a glass of water as “gainers” while the, 30% who believe that the quality of life got worse were “losers” and those 41% who believe it was the same compared to a year ago was “unchanged.”

SWS said the September score was 13 points below the very high +11 in June 2023 and the lowest since the -2 in June 2022.

On the other hand, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said inflation in September rose to 6.1 percent despite a government price cap on rice.

The PSA noted that inflation — how quickly prices rise in a given period — is felt more drastically by the poor.

It further observed that inflation for the bottom 30 percent of households reached 6.9 percent in September.

Food prices that month were up 9.7 percent year-on-year while transport costs also rose, the PSA said.

(ai/mnm)

By Liezelle Soriano

FIFTY percent of Filipinos were dissatisfied with the K to 12 program, a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations showed.

The SWS said 50 percent of the respondents expressed dissatisfaction, with 37 percent being “very dissatisfied” and 13 percent being “somewhat dissatisfied.”

Only 39 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied — 16 percent were “very satisfied” and 23 percent “somewhat satisfied.”

Nine percent were undecided and 2 percent did not have enough knowledge to provide an opinion.

The survey had 1,500 respondents.