SWS: 36% of Filipino families rate themselves as ‘borderline poor’

There were more Filipinos who rated themselves as “borderline poor” while those who considered themselves “not poor” declined, results of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

Conducted from Nov. 21 to Nov. 25, this is the first survey to be done by the polling body with [in-person] interviews since the pandemic struck. The survey on self-rated poverty (SRP) only resumed this quarter as it could not be implemented in the SWS mobile phone surveys earlier this year since it requires showing the survey respondents a card with the words “mahirap” (poor) and “hindi mahirap” (not poor) separated by a line written on it.

Results of the survey showed that 48 percent of Filipino families rate themselves as “poor” while 36 percent rate themselves as “borderline poor.”

In December 2019, the last time that SRP was implemented, there were 54 percent that felt “poor,” and 23 percent that felt “borderline poor.”

The survey also showed only 16 percent of the Filipinos families rate themselves as “not poor” this last quarter of 2020, a decline from the 23 percent recorded during the same period last year.

The November 2020 survey also asked the self-rated poor if they ever experienced being non-poor (either not poor or borderline) in the past. The total percentage of poor families consists of 8.2 percent who were non-poor one to four years ago (“newly poor”), 5.3 percent who were non-poor five or more years ago (“usually poor”), and 34.7 percent who never experienced being non-poor (“always poor”).

Of the estimated 12 million “poor” families in November, 2 million were “newly poor,” 1.3 million were “usually poor,” and 8.6 million were “always poor.”

Conversely, the survey asked those who were self-rated non-poor (either not poor or borderline) if they ever experienced being poor in the past.

Of the estimated 12.9 million non-poor families in November, 1.8 million were newly non-poor, 3.7 million were “usually non-poor,” and 7.2 million were “always non-poor.” —Inquirer Research INQ