More than half of Filipinos rate selves as poor — SWS

Metro Manila, Philippines - Fifty-two percent or roughly 14.4 million Filipino families last March said they see themselves as poor, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) self-rated poverty survey.

This is a one percent increase from February’s 14.3 million families or 51 percent which follows a decline from record-high 63 percent in December 2024 to 50 percent in January 2025.

The survey also showed that 12 percent identified themselves as being borderline, or on the line dividing poor and not poor, and 36 percent said they were not poor.

SWS said Visayas had the highest self-rated poverty at 62 percent while Mindanao showed 60 percent. Balance Luzon had self-rated poverty of 46 percent and Metro Manila had 41 percent.

The same poll also found that 27.2 percent of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger – being hungry and not having anything to eat – at least once in the past three months.

“The rate rose sharply among the Self-Rated Poor from 26.4 percent in February 2025 to 35.6 percent in March 2025,” SWS said.

SWS said the survey was conducted from March 15 to 20 via face-to-face interviews with 1,800 registered respondents nationwide.

The non-commissioned survey had ±2.31 percent margin of error for national percentages, ±3.27 percent for Luzon excluding Metro Manila, and ±5.66 percent each for Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.