More Filipino families consider themselves food poor in Q1 of 2023 — SWS

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MANILA, Philippines — More Filipino families saw themselves as food poor in the first quarter of this year, rising from 8.7 million in December 2022 to 10.6 million in March 2023, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

The SWS poll from March 26 to 29 — its results released on May 7, Sunday — found that 39 percent of the families considered themselves food poor – an increase from 34 percent to 39 percent.

The number of borderline food poor families “hardly moved” from 38 percent to 35 percent, and “barely changed” from 26 percent to 28 percent for non-food poor families, the survey noted.

SWS surveyed 1,200 Filipino adults – 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The error margins for the survey are ±2.8 percent for national percentages and ±5.7 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Self-rated food poverty rose everywhere in PH

SWS said the percentage of self-rated food poor Filipino families leaped everywhere nationwide from December 2022 to March 2023, but the increase was “more significant” in the Visayas and Mindanao than in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon.

Families who considered themselves food poor rose in Visayas from 38 percent to 45 percent, and in Mindanao from 45 percent to 52 percent.

“It rose slightly in Metro Manila from 29 percent to 33 percent, and in Balance Luzon from 28 percent to 31 percent,” SWS noted.

It also found fewer borderline food poor families in Metro Manila from 33 percent to 24 percent, and in Visayas from 42 percent to 37 percent.

The situation, however, was unchanged in Balance Luzon at 36 percent and barely moved from 41 percent to 40 percent in Mindanao.

“At the same time, [the number of non-food poor families] hardly moved in Balance Luzon from 36 percent to 33 percent, and in Visayas from 20 percent to 18 percent. However, it fell in Metro Manila from 38 percent to 43 percent, and in Mindanao from 14 percent to nine percent,” SWS said.

Self-rated food poverty ceiling on the rise, except in Visayas

SWS pointed out that the nationwide self-rated food poverty threshold increased from P7,000 in December 2022 to P8,000 in March 2023.

It rose in Metro Manila from P9,000 to 10,000, in Balance Luzon from P8,000 to P9,000, and in Mindanao from P5,000 to P6,000.

The self-rated food poverty ceiling dropped only in the Visayas from P9,000 to P8,000, according to SWS.

“The national median self-rated food poverty gap stayed at P3,000 in the past six quarters,” the poll body also said.

It increased in Metro Manila from P4,000 to P5,000, in Balance Luzon from P8,000 to P9,000, and in Mindanao from P2,000 to P3,000.

SWS pointed out, however, that the self-rated food poverty gap was stagnant at P3,000 in Visayas.

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