By Alexandria Dennise San Juan
One out of three or about 31 percent of Filipino families escaped poverty with 14 percent saying that they are “newly non-poor,” the highest rate of “newly non-poor families” recorded since the 13.8 percent in 2014, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey result showed.
The fourth quarter 2017 SWS survey released Friday also noted that at least 12 percent or about one out of eight of Filipino families fell into poverty as the “usually poor” and “newly poor” are both six percent.
On the result, it showed that the percentage of self-rated non-poor families is higher than those self-rated poor families with 56 percent and 44 percent, respectively.
Of the 56 percent self-rated non-poor families, 25 percent said they have never experienced poverty or those who are “always non-poor.”
The 31 percent who “transitioned out of poverty” consists of 17 percent who used to be poor five or more years ago or tagged by the SWS as “usually non-poor,” while 14 percent used to be poor 1-4 years ago or those “newly non-poor.”
The result of the survey done on December 8-16, 2017 also found that of the 44 percent self-rated poor families, 31 percent have never experienced being non-poor, while 12 percent has transitioned into poverty.
Among the 12 percent who “transitioned into poverty,” 6.4 percent used to be non-poor five or more years ago (“usually poor”), and 6 percent used to be non-poor 1-4 years ago (“newly poor”).
The SWS noted that the December 2017 figure is the highest rate of newly non-poor families since the 13.8 percent recorded when the question was first surveyed in December 2014. This was also higher than the 11.3 percent in the September 2017 survey.