A Social Weather Stations (SWS) non-commissioned survey released on Wednesday, Jan. 8 revealed that Filipino families considering themselves poor increased to 63 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024–the highest self-rated poverty in 21 years.
In the survey conducted from Dec. 12 to 18, 63 percent of Filipino families rate themselves as “mahirap” or poor, 11 percent identify as “borderline” (placing themselves between poor and not poor), and 26 percent rate themselves as “hindi mahirap” or not poor.
“The December 2024 percentage of self-rated poor families of 63 percent was four points up from 59 percent in September 2024, rising steadily for the third consecutive quarter since the significant 12-point rise from 46 percent in March 2024 to 58 percent in June 2024,” SWS said.
“This was the highest percentage of self-rated poor families in 21 years, since 64 percent in November 2003,” it added.
Moreover, SWS noted that the 2024 annual average for self-rated poor families of 57 percent was nine points above the annual average of 48 percent in 2023 and 2022.
It estimated that self-rated poor families were 17.4 million in December 2024 and 16.3 million in September 2024.
2.8 million families ‘newly poor’
During the December survey, SWS asked the self-rated poor families if they had ever been non-poor (either not poor or borderline).
The results showed that 10.2 percent had been non-poor one to four years ago (newly poor), 7.6 percent had been non-poor five or more years ago (usually poor), and 44.7 percent had never experienced being non-poor (always poor).
Of the estimated 17.4 million self-rated poor families in December, 2.8 million were newly poor, 2.1 million were usually poor, and 12.4 million were always poor.
Conversely, the survey also asked self-rated non-poor families (either borderline or not poor) if they had ever experienced being poor.
Among these households, 14.4 percent had been poor one to four years ago (newly non-poor), 10.9 percent had been poor five or more years ago (usually non-poor), and 11.7 percent had never been poor (always non-poor).
Of the estimated 10.3 million self-rated non-poor families in December, 4 million were newly non-poor, 3 million were usually non-poor, and 3.3 million were always non-poor.
Self-rated poverty rises in VisMin; steady in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon
SWS attributed the four-point increase in the nationwide self-rated poverty between September and December to increases in the Visayas and Mindanao, combined with a steady percentage in Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila) and a slight decrease in Metro Manila.
As of December, self-rated poverty was highest in Mindanao at 76 percent, followed by the Visayas at 74 percent, Balance Luzon at 55 percent, and Metro Manila at 51 percent.
Compared to September, self-rated poverty rose by 12 points from 62 percent in the Visayas, and nine points from67 percent in Mindanao.
However, it stayed at 55 percent in Balance Luzon, while it hardly moved from 52 percent in Metro Manila.
The Fourth Quarter 2024 Social Weather Survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 2,160 adults aged 18 years and above nationwide: 1,080 in Balance Luzon (Luzon outside Metro Manila), and 360 each in Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
The sampling error margins are ±2 percent for national percentages, ±3 percent in Balance Luzon, and ±5 percent for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.