Residents of Purok 3, Isla Puting Bato in Tondo, Manila salvage what they can on April 11, 2024, a day after a blaze hit the area. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA – Around 58 percent of Filipino families rated themselves as poor in June, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released Friday.

This was 12 points above the 46 percent in March 2024 and the highest since 59 percent in June 2008, the pollster said.

The estimated numbers of self-rated poor families were 16 million in June 2024 and 12.9 million in March 2024.

The same survey found that 12 percent of families rated themselves as borderline poor, while 30 percent said they were not poor.

Self-rated poverty was highest in Mindanao at 71 percent, followed by the Visayas at 67 percent, Balance Luzon at 52 percent, and Metro Manila at 39 percent, the SWS said.

SWS noted that self-rated poverty peaked at 74 percent in the July 1985 Bishops-Businessmen's Conference (BBC) survey. 

In the SWS surveys from May 1986 to the present, it reached as high as 72 percent in February 1992 and as low as 38 percent in March 2019.

Self-rated poor families said they needed a monthly budget of at least P15,000 not to consider themselves poor. This self-rated poverty threshold has stayed the same in the last 10 quarters, SWS said.

It added the median monthly family expenses for house rent was at P3,000, transportation to work and school at P2,000, internet at P900, and mobile phone load at P360.

The latest survey was conducted from June 23 to July 1, using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults. 

Inflation remains Filipinos' top concern: Pulse Asia