MANILA - Only 16 percent of Filipino families said they are not poor, a Social Weather Stations survey released Monday showed.

The survey, conducted on Nov. 21-25 using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide, also showed 48 percent of families rated themselves as poor, while 36 percent feel borderline poor.

SWS said the percentage of those who consider themselves as borderline poor rose by 13 points between December 2019 to November 2020.

During the December 2019 survey, 23 percent of the respondents said they felt they are not poor, 54 percent felt they are poor, and 23 percent felt borderline poor.

The pollster said they were not able to implement Self-Rated Poverty in mobile phone surveys earlier this year.

The survey showed a decline in families feeling not poor in Balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, while the percentage of those who feel not poor in Metro Manila is the same, compared to December 2019.

However, those who feel borderline poor in Metro Manila increased by 3 points, from 14 percent in December 2019 to 17 percent in November 2020.

Most families who consider themselves as poor also said that they need a P12,000 monthly budget for them not to consider themselves as poor.

The amount is equivalent to the median self-rated poverty threshold which SWS explained as "what the poorer half of the poor need for home expenses in order not to be poor." This is unchanged from December 2019.

Most families who consider themselves as poor said they lack P5,000 a month relative to the self-rated poverty threshold.

"This means that the poorer half of the poor generally lack half of what they need in order to survive," SWS said.

In Metro Manila, those who consider themselves poor need a P15,000 monthly budget, and lacking around P7,000 a month.

FOOD POOR

The survey also found out that over 31 percent of families found themselves "food-poor", which is lower than last year's 35 percent.

Those who felt not food-poor, however, dropped from December 2019's 37 percent to 22 percent in November 2020.

SWS also said Metro Manila is the only area where food-poor families increased, drawn from declines in both borderline food-poor and not food-poor.

NEWLY POOR, NEWLY NON-POOR

The November 2020 survey showed 8.2 percent of families who are "newly poor", or those who consider themselves not poor one to four years ago.

This means that of the estimated 12 million poor families in November 2020, 2 million were "newly poor", 1.3 million were "usually poor", or those who were not poor five or more years ago, and 8.6 million families who were "always poor."

On the other hand, 7.3 percent are "newly non-poor", or those who considered themselves poor one to four years ago.

This means that of the estimated 12.9 million non-poor families in November 2020, 1.8 million were "newly non-poor", 3.7 million were "usually non-poor" and 7.2 million were "always non-poor."

The November 2020 SWS survey has a sampling error margin of ±2.5 percent for national percentages, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±6% for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

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