Self-rated poverty down–SWS

Self-rated poverty dropped to a near record low of 38 percent in Luzon (outside Metro Manila), down 16 percentage points from 54 percent in March, but it increased substantially in the national capital region and Mindanao.

According to the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) published in Business World, the uneven poverty assessment brought to 49 percent or an estimated 9.8 million families who rated themselves poor. The overall reduction was only two percentage points from 51 percent (10.4 million families) that rated themselves poor in March.

The rating for Luzon, (excluding Metro Manila), was the lowest for the area since March 1987, when 22 percent rated themselves poor. Included in this areas are the the Southern Tagalog area, Central Luzon and Northern Luzon.

The figure, however, increased 13 percentage points in Mindanao (49 percent to 62 percent) and nine percentage points in Metro Manila (34 percent to 43 percent) and stayed unchanged at 61 percent in Visayas.

The SWS Second Quarter survey, conducted from June 3 to 6, also found the proportion of self-rated food-poor households on the decline. Overall it was 36 percent (7.2 million families) or four percentage points lower than the 40 percent (or 8.1 million families) in the previous survey.

Again Luzon (excluding Metro Manila) showed the biggest improvement at 28 percent compared to 29 percent in March 2010.

Fewer families also declared themselves food-poor in Visayas, from 51 percent in March to 48 percent.

The food-poor ratio, however, worsened in Mindanao (38 percent to 45 percent) and in Metro Manila (24 percent to 28 percent).

Meanwhile, the median self-rated poverty threshold declined in Metro Manila (P15,000 to P11,000), Luzon outside Metro Manila (P9,000 to P7,700) and Mindanao (P7,000 to P6,000) but stayed unchanged in Visayas at P8,000.

The median self-rated food poverty threshold, on the other hand, also fell in Metro Manila (P8,000 to P6,000), Luzon outside Metro Manila (P5,000 to P3,000) and Mindanao (P3,850 to P3,000). It was unchanged at P4,000 in Visayas.

The SWS, which surveyed 1,200 adult household heads, found that 23.8 percent among the self-rated poor, 7.1 percent among those who rated themselves “not poor” and 6.7 percent of those on the borderline, experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.

The survey also found that 27 percent of the self-rated food-poor, 7.1 percent among those who rated themselves “not food-poor” and 9.9 percent among those on the borderline, also experienced hunger.

The SWS survey asks the question: “Where would you place your family in this card?” A showcard with the choices “Not Poor”, “On the Line” and “Poor” is shown.