January 11, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Self-rated poor Filipino families significantly increased last year despite indicators showing that they have already lowered their living standards, the fourth quarter survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
The survey, conducted from Dec. 12 to 18, found that the self-rated poverty threshold – or the minimum monthly budget for home expenses needed by self-rated poor families in order not to consider themselves poor – fell for two quarters last year.
From P15,000 in June, it went down to P12,000 in September and P10,000 in December.
“The self-rated poverty threshold … has remained sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation. This indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, i.e., belt-tightening,” the polling firm said.
Across areas, the self-rated poverty threshold was highest in Metro Manila, which increased from P18,000 in September to P20,000 in December.
It fell in balance Luzon, from P15,000 to P10,000, while it stayed at P10,000 in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Despite the lower threshold, self-rated poverty reached 63 percent in December, up four points from 59 percent in September 2024. It was the highest since November 2003, when self-rated poverty was at 64 percent.
The latest survey found that the self-rated poverty gap, or the minimum amount needed by families to reach the threshold, stayed at P5,000.
But the lower threshold meant an increase in the proportion between the two indicators, which SWS said indicates “a worsening in families’ budget for home expenses.”
The gap in Metro Manila was P7,000 per month, while it was P5,000 in other areas nationwide.
“In the past, the median self-rated poverty gap has generally been half of the median self-rated poverty threshold. This means that typical poor families lack about half of what they need to not consider themselves poor,” read the survey results.
The survey found that the median family expenses for house rent is at P3,000 per month, P2,000 for transportation, P1,000 for internet and P300 for mobile load. It stayed unchanged in all items, except for mobile load, which fell from P400 in September 2024.
The SWS Fourth Quarter survey had 2,160 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus two percent.
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