11.8M families considered themselves poor at end of 2013 – SWS

Nearly 12 million households said they considered themselves poor as 2013 drew to a close, according to a new survey by pollster Social Weather Stations.

According to the SWS survey, taken from Dec. 11 to 16 last year, 55 percent of respondents or 11.8 million families, said they were poor.

This was higher than the 50 percent of families who considered themselves poor in September, the SWS said in its report published Monday in the Business World website.

Also, 41 percent of respondents, equivalent to 8.8 million families, considered themselves food-poor, four points higher than in September.

“Both self-rated poverty and self-rated food poverty rose from the previous quarter, and are above their four-quarter averages for 2013,” the SWS noted.

The increases in the national numbers for self-rated poverty and food poverty were “roughly due to increases in all areas except Mindanao.”

The SWS also found that the full-year results for 2013 – with self-rated poverty at 52 percent – were similar to marks in 2012.

The pollster added self-rated food poverty in 2013 averaged 39 percent, two points down from 2012.

The survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,550 adult Filipinos nationwide.

In the survey, respondents were asked to choose whether their families were poor, not poor or “on the line” in both poverty and food-poverty categories.

Respondents were also asked how much money would be required for their households not to be considered poor.

Sampling error margins of ±2.5% for national, ±4% for the Visayas and ±6% for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon and Mindanao percentages applied to the survey.

By region

The SWS poll found that Mindanao was the only area to register a decrease in poverty.

Self-rated poverty in Metro Manila rose to 46 percent, with its 2013 average at 43 percent, two points higher than the previous year.

Self-rated poverty increased eight points in Balance Luzon to 50 percent, for a full-year result of 48 percent. This was six points higher than its average in 2012.

In the Visayas, the rise in self-rated poverty was six points, to 68 percent. This rendered the average self-rated poverty to 63 percent, two points higher from 2012.

As for Mindanao, self-rated poverty dipped two points to 59 percent, and its average for 2013 was 55 percent. This was 12 points below the average in 2012.

Food poverty

The SWS said self-rated food poverty increased by three points to 32 percent in Metro Manila. Metro Manila had an average self-rated food poverty of 29 percent for 2013, two points higher than 2012.

Self-rated poverty went up six percentage points in the Visayas and Balance Luzon. In the Visayas, self-rated food poverty went up to 52 percent for an average of 47 percent in 2013; and to 36 percent in Balance Luzon for an average of 33 percent last year.

The Visayas’ self-rated food poverty was two points lower compared to last year, and three points higher for Balance Luzon.

Meanwhile, self-rated poverty stayed at 47 percent in Mindanao, for a 2013 average of 44 percent. This was 12 points lower from 2012.

Belt-tightening

The SWS said the self-rated poverty threshold, or the monthly budget that households need so they would not consider themselves poor, remained sluggish despite inflation.

It said this “indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, i.e., belt-tightening.”

The SWS found that the median poverty threshold rose to P10,000 in Mindanao, dipped to P12,000 in Metro Manila and P9,000 in Balance Luzon, and remained at P10,000 in the Visayas.

Also, the median self-rated food poverty threshold, or the minimum monthly budget with which a household will not consider itself food-poor, decreased to P6,000 in Metro Manila and P4,500 in Balance Luzon. It remained at P5,000 in the Visayas and P4,000 in Mindanao.

The SWS noted median thresholds, the amount that would satisfy the poorer half of poor households, “have been surpassed in the past for all areas.” — DVM, GMA News