Almost half of Filipinos feel poor — SWS

ALMOST half of Filipino families consider themselves poor, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll.

SWS said 48% of families rated themselves poor and 36% said they were borderline poor. Only 16% felt they were not poor.

The November poll was the first time the pollster did face-to-face interviews since the coronavirus pandemic struck. The self-rated poverty poll could not be done in SWS mobile phone surveys earlier this year.

In December 2019, the last time that poll was done, there were 54% that felt poor, 23% felt borderline poor and 23% felt they were not poor.

The November poll also found 31% of families rating themselves as food-poor, 47% feeling borderline food-poor and 22% feeling they were not food-poor, SWS said.

The polling firm interviewed 1,500 adults for the poll, which had an error margin of ±2.5 points. — NPA