A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from April 23 to 28 found that 50 percent of Filipino families, or an estimated 14.1 million households, rated themselves as poor.

This is a five-point decrease from the 55 percent, or about 15.5 million families, reported in an SWS survey conducted from April 11 to 15.

The survey also found that 42 percent of families, a record high, rated themselves as not poor, while 8 percent considered themselves borderline, placing themselves on the dividing line between poor and not poor, SWS reported. 

It noted that the 8 percent borderline rating is the lowest recorded since the category was introduced in 1985.

SWS attributed the decline in self-rated poverty nationwide to the large decreases in Metro Manila and Mindanao. 

In Metro Manila, the percentage of families who considered themselves poor dropped by 12 points, from 45 percent to 33 percent. 

Mindanao saw a nine-point decrease, from 70 percent to 61 percent.

Meanwhile, self-rated poverty rates remained largely unchanged in Balance Luzon, or Luzon outside Metro Manila, at 43 percent.

The Visayas recorded the highest poverty rate at 67 percent, unchanged from the previous survey.

SWS said the proportion of families rating themselves as not poor increased in all regions. 

Metro Manila saw a 15-point rise, from 45 percent to 60 percent; Balance Luzon increased by seven points to 51 percent; the Visayas rose three points to 24 percent; and Mindanao increased by 13 points to 29 percent. 

Borderline ratings declined across all areas.

The survey also found that 7.7 percent of families who rated themselves as poor had been non-poor within the past one to four years, classified as “newly poor.” 

Another 8.3 percent had been non-poor five or more years ago (“usually poor”), while 34 percent reported never having experienced being non-poor (“always poor”).

Of the estimated 14.1 million self-rated poor families in April 2025, approximately 2.2 million were newly poor, 2.3 million were usually poor, and 9.5 million were always poor.

Conversely, among the 14 million families who rated themselves as non-poor (either borderline or not poor), 12.8 percent had been poor one to four years ago (“newly non-poor”), 20.4 percent had been poor five or more years ago (“usually non-poor”), and 16.6 percent reported never having been poor (“always non-poor”).

This translates to about 3.6 million newly non-poor families, 5.7 million usually non-poor families, and 4.6 million always non-poor families.

The First Quarter 2025 Social Weather Survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults, aged 18 and above.

The sampling error margins are ±3 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent in Balance Luzon, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.