ABOUT 43 percent of Filipinos consider their families as poor, or around 10.7 million families, the December 12 to 16 or fourth quarter survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
This is slightly lower than the 45, or an estimated 11.4 million families, in September 2021 that said their families are poor.
The survey, which involved 1,440 adult respondents nationwide with a sampling error margin ±2.6 percent, also showed that 39 percent said their families (up from 24 percent in September) are Borderline Poor — or those who do not consider their families as poor or not poor — while 19 percent (down from 21 percent) said they are not poor.
It said that those who consider their family as poor fell in Metro Manila with 34 percent (from 43 percent) and Mindanao with 43 percent (from 58 percent) but rose in the Visayas with 59 percent (from 54 percent) and Luzon with 41 percent (from 38 percent).
Those who said they are Borderline Poor rose in Metro Manila (47 percent from 30 percent), Mindanao (48 percent from 34 percent), and Luzon (34 percent from 32 percent), but went down in the Visayas (33 percent from 42 percent).
Those who said they are not poor went down in Metro Manila (28 percent from 367perent) and in Luzon (25 percent from 30- percent) but doubled in the Visayas (8 percent from 4 percent) and hardly changed in Mindanao (9 percent from 8 percent).
SWS said a family needs at least P12,000 monthly (down from P15,000) in order not to be considered poor, while those in Metro Manila need a P15,000 income (down from P20,000).
Those in Luzon need P15,000 (unchanged); P12,000 in the Visayas (down from P15,000) and P10,000 in Mindanao (unchanged).
The polling firm also found that those who claimed to be food-poor was unchanged at 31 percent, but it hardly moved among those who are borderline food-poor with 43 percent (from 44 percent), and not food-poor with 26 percent (up from 24 percent).
The self-rated food-poor rose significantly in the Visayas with 41 percent (up from 30 percent) and also rose in Luzon with 31 percent (from 26 percent), while it went down in Mindanao with 31 percent (from 40 percent) and Metro Manila with 21 percent (from 24 percent).
In order not to be considered food-poor, a family living in Metro Manila needs a P15,000 income (down from P20,000); P15,000 (unchanged) for those in Luzon, P12,000 in the Visayas (down from P15,000) and P10,000 in Mindanao (unchanged).
SWS said a family needs P7,000 monthly (down from P8,000) in order not to be considered food-poor, while those in Metro Manila need P8,000 (down from P10,000). Those in Luzon need P9,000 (unchanged); P7,000 in the Visayas (down from P6,000) and P5,000 in Mindanao (down from P6,000).
