SWS survey says more families ‘transitioned out of poverty’ in 2017

About 31 percent of Filipino families were able to pull themselves out of poverty in 2017, which is the highest percentage since 2014, according to a nationwide Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey taken during the last quarter of the year.

In a media release on Friday, the SWS said that the December 2017 survey showed the highest rate of Filipino families that transitioned out of poverty since December 2014.

The SWS survey conducted from December 8 to 16 found that 31 percent of families were now considered “newly non-poor”—17 percent of whom used to be poor five or more years ago, while 14 percent used to be poor one to four years ago.

“The figure for December 2017 is the highest rate of newly non-poor families since the 13.8% recorded when the question was first surveyed in December 2014,” the SWS said in a media release.

The poll showed that 56 percent of Filipino families were now considered “self-rated non-poor,” which included the 31 percent of families who escaped poverty.

On the other hand, the SWS poll found that 12 percent of Filipino families fell into poverty—6.4 percent were “usually poor” while 6.0 percent were “newly poor.”

The results showed a total of 44 percent “self-rated poor” families in the country, the SWS said. Aside from the 12 percent that fell into poverty, the other 31 percent were “always poor,” the survey firm said.

The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide, the SWS said. It has a margin of error of ±3% nationwide, ±4% for Luzon, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao. /jpv