More households poor, hungry in the 4th qtr of 2013

Slightly more households considered themselves poor and hungry in the last quarter of 2013 as compared to the 3rd quarter, according to a recent survey from the Social Weather Stations (SWS). In a survey conducted from Dec 11-16, 2013, 55% of the respondents – or an estimated 11.8 million households – said they were poor. This figure is 5 percentage points higher than it was 3 months prior. Of the same respondents, 41% – or an estimated 8.8 million households – said they experienced food poverty or hunger, 4 points higher than the September result. The increase in poverty was seen across all regions except for Mindanao, which actually showed a two-point decrease in self-rated poverty (59% from 61%). Metro Manila yielded a two-point increase at 46%, the balance of Luzon increased by 8 points at 50%, and Visayas rose 6 points to 68%. Political analyst Ramon Casiple told BusinessWorld that the survey findings indicated that “economic growth has not reached the poor.”


Read the full story on Rappler and BusinessWorld.