Less People Now Consider Themselves Poor

The Fourth Quarter 2011 survey of the Social Weather Survey show that less families rate themselves as Poor. It shows that 45% (estimated 9.1 million) families consider themselves as Mahirap or Poor, 7 points lower than 52% (estimated 10.4 million) in September 2011. The survey was done on the 4^th quarter of 2011 from 3 to 7, 2011.

The survey also found that 36% (estimated 7.2 million) consider themselves as Food-Poor, 5 points down from 41% (estimated 8.2 million) in the previous quarter.

In the same survey, Self-Rated Poverty fell by 19 points in Mindanao, from 57% in September 2011 to 38% in December and fell by 8 points in Balance Luzon, from 53% to 45%. It also declined by 1 point in the Visayas, from 53% to 52%.

It however rose by 8 points in Metro Manila, from 39% to 47% and fell by 13 points in rural areas, from 62% to 49, and by 2 points in urban areas, from 43% to 41%.

The Self-Rated Poverty Threshold, or the monthly budget that poor households need in home expenses in order not to consider themselves poor in general, remain sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation. This indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, i.e., belt-tightening.

Compared to the previous quarter, the median poverty threshold for poor households fell to P10,000 in Metro Manila, P6,000 in Balance Luzon, and P6,000 in the Visayas, while it stayed at P6,000 in Mindanao.

The SWS reported that as of December 2011, the median food-poverty threshold for poor households fell back to P5,000 in Metro Manila, P3,750 in the Visayas, while it stayed at P4,000 in Balance Luzon and P3,500 in Mindanao.

The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao with a sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, ±6% for area percentages).

The area estimates were weighted by National Statistics Office medium-population projections for 2011 to obtain the national estimates.