More Filipino families, roughly 10.4 million (or about 52 percent), consider themselves as "poor" and "food poor," a new survey by pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed. Both the poverty and hunger data were obtained in an SWS survey conducted from September 4 to 7 this year. Face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide were conducted in the survey. The sampling error margins used were ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages. The results of its latest survey were posted on its media partner BusinessWorld on Monday. The SWS said the number of respondents (52 percent) who counted themselves as “mahirap" (poor), was higher by three percent from the 49 percent (9.8 million) figure recorded in June. Meanwhile, the number of those who claimed to be "food-poor" was 41 percent (8.2 million families), up by five percent from 36 percent (7.2 million) figure recorded three months earlier, it added. The SWS noted the latest results were consistent with findings on hunger last month — 21.5 percent from 15.1 percent previously. The SWS said significant increases in the number of those who counted themselves as food-poor in Balance Luzon area. Self-rated poverty The SWS survey said self-rated poverty jumped by 15 points to 53 percent in Balance Luzon, from only 38 percent in June. This countered the drops noted in:
the Visayas (53 from 61 percent), Mindanao (57 from 62 percent), and Metro Manila (39 from 43 percent). The poverty rating rose by nine points to 62 percent in rural areas and stayed at 43 percent in towns and cities. Self-rated food poverty Meanwhile, self-rated food poverty jumped to 45 percent in Balance Luzon, the highest since June 2006, from the record low of 28 percent three months ago. It overwhelmed improvements in: the Visayas (nine points to 39 percent), Metro Manila (three points to 25 percent), and Mindanao (one point to 44 percent). The SWS noted that poor families continued to lower their living standards, with self-rated poverty thresholds staying sluggish despite inflation. It said the median poverty threshold for poor families rose by: P4,000 to P15,000 in Metro Manila, and P2,000 to P10,000 in the Visayas. The amount stayed at P6,000 in Mindanao and fell by P200 to P7,500 in Balance Luzon. Meanwhile, the median food-poverty threshold rose to P5,000 in the Visayas and to P4,000 in Balance Luzon, both up P1,000. It increased by P500 to P3,500 in Mindanao and stayed at P6,000 in Metro Manila. Hunger In terms of hunger, the SWS said this was at 28 percent among the self-rated poor. This figure is much higher than the 16 percent rating recorded among those who considered themselves as “not poor" and the 13.4 percent among those who consider themselves as being on the borderline. Among the self-rated food poor, hunger was at 31.1 percent, more than double the 14.8 percent rating recorded among the “not food poor" and the 14.7 percent among those on the borderline. Severe hunger, defined as experiencing having nothing to eat “often" or “always" in the last three months, was at: 5.5 percent among poor households, 2.2 percent among the “not poor," and 0.7 percent among those on the borderline. - VVP, GMA News 
GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
