SWS: Fewer Pinoy families feel poor

MANILA, Philippines – Fewer Filipino families considered themselves poor, but more claimed they lack food, according to a June survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

Of the survey respondents, 49% or 10.4 million families said they felt poor.

This was 10 percentage points lower than the figure in the March survey, where 52% of respondents – equivalent to 10.6 million households – described themselves as poor.

The latest SWS survey was conducted from June 28 to 30 through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide. Results were first published by BusinessWorld.

Self-rated poverty per region

Among the regions, Visayas registered the biggest decrease in self-rated poverty, with 57% saying they were poor, down 8 percentage points from the previous survey.

Self-rated poverty in Mindanao fell 6 percentage points (to 47%), and 2 percentage points in both Metro Manila (40%) and the rest of Luzon (48%).

Food-poor families

More Filipino families, however, claimed they didn’t have enough food.

Some 40% (8.5 million families) said they were food-poor, up from 39% (7.9 million) in March.

PH poverty incidence

Based on National Statiscal Coordination Board data, the country’s poverty rate barely improved from 2006 to 2009.

Read: PH poverty in H1 2012 unchanged from 2006

Poverty incidence was recorded at 27.9% in the first half of 2012, almost unchanged from 28.6% in 2009 and 28.8% in 2006. – Cherrie Regalado, Rappler.com