59 percent of Filipino families rated themselves as Poor, while 13 percent rated themselves as Borderline or in-between Poor and Not Poor, the Social Weather Survey (SWS) from September 2024 found.
In the third quarter of 2024, the SWS used face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults aged 18 years old and above nationwide. The survey was conducted from September 14 to 23 this year.
600 people were surveyed in Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila), and 300 each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.
According to SWS, the September 2024 percentage of Self-Rated Poor families rose by one point from 58 percent in June.
“This was the highest percentage of Self-Rated Poor families since June 2008. The estimated numbers of Self-Rated Poor families were 16.3 million in September 2024 and 16.0 million in June 2024,” the SWS said.
Meanwhile, results from the survey also found the percentage of Borderline families at 13 percent rose by one point from the 12 percent record in June 2024. Subsequently, the percentage of Not Poor Families was at 28 percent, two points below the record high 30 percent in June 2024.
The number of Self-Rated Poor families was divided among three categories: Newly Poor, Usually Poor, and Always Poor. According to the survey, 9.1 percent of families were "Newly Poor", while 8.1 percent were "Usually Poor", and 41.5 percent were in the "Always Poor" category.
Out of the estimated 16.3 million Self-Rated Poor families in September 2024, 2.5 million were Newly Poor, 2.3 million were Usually Poor, and 11.5 million were Always Poor.
