ALMOST one in two Filipino families considered themselves poor, according to the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

Compared to June 2023, the percentage of poor families increased by 3 points from 45% to 48% based on the results of the September 28 to October 1, 2023 poll, while borderline families dropped by 6 points from 33% to 27%, and not poor families went up by 3 points from 22% to 25%.

The estimated number of Self-Rated Poor families in September 2023 was 13.2 million, up from 12.5 million in June 2023. 

”To arrive at the estimated numbers of Self-Rated Poor families, the percentage of respondent households rating themselves as poor was applied to the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2023,” SWS said.

It said the 3-point rise in the nationwide Self-Rated Poor figure between June 2023 and September 2023 was due to increases in all areas, especially in Mindanao, combined with a decline in Balance Luzon (outside Metro Manila).

Thirty-four percent of families rated themselves as Food-Poor, 35% considered themselves Food Borderline (by placing themselves on the horizontal line dividing Food-Poor and Not Food-Poor), and 31% rated themselves Not Food-Poor.

The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults (18 years old and older) nationwide: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila), the Visayas, and Mindanao. 

It has sampling error margins of ±2.8% for national percentages and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.