Significantly more Filipino families consider themselves poor, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The SWS said 45 percent of Filipino families classified themselves “mahirap” or “poor” in its June 22-26, 2019 poll. This was equivalent to 11.1 million families.
Self-rated poverty went up by 7 percentage points from the record-low 38 percent (9.5 million) in March 2019.
“The rise in the proportion of Self-Rated Poor (SRP) families comes after a 14-point decline over the previous three quarters. It went down from 52% in September 2018, to 50% in December, and then to 38% in March 2019,” the SWS said in its report.
SWS also said 35 percent (8.5 million) of families rated their food to be “poor,” 8 points above the record-low 27 percent (6.8 million) in March 2019.
“Similar to the SRP percentage, the rise in the proportion of Self-Rated Food Poor (SRFP) families comes after a 9-point decline over the previous three quarters. It went down from 36% in September 2018, to 34% in December, and then to 27% in March 2019,” the SWS said. (PressONE.ph)