THE percentage of Filipinos believing they are poor increased by three points to 47 percent or an estimated 10.9 million families, the third quarter Social Weather Stations survey said.
The latest survey, fielded among 1,500 adults, found the three-percentage-point increase from June 2017.
Of those who rated themselves poor, three-fourths have always been poor—accounting for 36 percent of Filipino families overall.
The 3-point nationwide increase in the self-rated poverty rate came from Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, while the same declined in Mindanao and the Visayas, the survey company said.
In Balance Luzon, self-rated poverty increased sharply by 16 points from 34 percent in June 2017 to 50 percent in September 2017. It rose by three points in Metro Manila, from 28 percent in June to 31 percent in September.
Self-rated poverty dropped 12 points in Mindanao, from 57 percent in June to 45 percent in September, and 8 points in the Visayas, from 64 percent in June to 56 percent in September.
The September 2017 survey also found 32 percent, or an estimated 7.4 million of families rated themselves as “food-poor.” This was the same as the previous quarter, but below the 35 percent in March.
For one not to be considered as “poor,” the same survey said a family needs a monthly budget of P10,000, which has been the median self-rated poverty threshold since September 2016.
The September 2017 survey also found that the median self-rated poverty gap, or the amount poor families lack in monthly home expenses relative to their stated threshold, was unchanged at P5,000, or half of the self-rated poverty threshold.
Meanwhile, the national median self-rated food poverty threshold, or the monthly budget that a food-poor household needs for food expenses so as not to be considered food was P5,000.
The September 2017 survey found that an average Filipino household spend a median of P1,000 on monthly transportation.
The survey, conducted from September 23-27 had sampling error margins at ±2.5 percent for national percentages.