📷Asia News Network
Self-rated poverty in the Philippines is now at its highest in 21 years as Filipino families who consider themselves poor increased in the fourth quarter of 2024, Social Weather Station (SWS) said earlier this week.
The latest survey from the SWS released on Wednesday, January 8, showed that Filipino families who consider themselves poor increased to 63% in December.
The latest figure increased by 4 points from 59% in September 2024 and is the highest self-rated poverty level in over two decades, last seen in November 2003 at 64%.
This brings the estimated number of self-rated poor Filipino families to 17.4 million. This is the 3rd straight quarter in which self rated poverty has gone up with notable increases seen in the Visayas in Mindanao.
In addition, SWS found that around 2.8 million families consider themselves newly poor.
The 2024 annual average for self-rated poverty stands at 57%, a significant increase from 48% in both 2023 and 2022.
SWS attributed the increase in poverty levels to rising costs and challenges in meeting basic needs, with families struggling to maintain their living standards.
Regionally, Mindanao and the Visayas report the highest levels of poverty, with 76% and 74% of families, respectively, rating themselves as poor.
In contrast, Metro Manila and Balance Luzon show lower, though still significant, poverty rates of 51% and 55%.
Self poor
Self-rated food poor, or poor based on the food they eat, also climbed to 51% in December from 46% in September 2024, which is the highest in 20 years since March 2004.
According to SWS, the average self-rated “food poverty” for last year was 44 percent, which is nine points higher than the 35% average in 2023.
This marks the highest level since the 53% average recorded in 2003.
The SWS survey for the fourth quarter was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 2,160 adults.
It had a sampling error margin of ±2 percentage points for the national figures, ±3 percentage points for areas in Luzon outside of Metro Manila, and ±5 percentage points for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. (TCSP)
