52% of Pinoy families see themselves poor – SWS

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May 10, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Slightly more than half of Filipino families consider themselves poor, according to a recent survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey, conducted from March 24 to 31, showed that 52 percent of the respondents rated their families as poor.

It hardly moved from the 51 percent obtained in a similar survey in November 2025.

The latest self-rated poverty translated to 14.5 million poor families, up from 14.3 million in the previous poll, SWS said.

Meanwhile, some 35 percent considered their families as “not poor,” down from 37 percent in November.

The remaining 13 percent said they were neither poor nor not poor, described by the polling firm as those in the borderline. It was almost similar to the 12 percent obtained in the previous survey,

Across areas, self-rated poverty was highest among those in the Visayas at 66 percent (from 58 percent), followed by those in Mindanao at 63 percent (from 65 percent), balance Luzon at 44 percent (from 45 percent) and Metro Manila at 42 percent (from 37 percent).

Food poverty

The latest survey also found that 42 percent identified their families as “food poor” or poor based on the food they eat, up from 40 percent in November.

Those who rated their families as “not food poor” decreased from 49 percent to 46 percent, while those who considered their families as “borderline food poor” increased from 11 percent to 12 percent.

Self-rated food poverty was highest among respondents in the Visayas at 54 percent (from 45 percent), followed by those in Mindanao at 50 percent (from 55 percent), balance Luzon at 35 percent (from 34 percent) and Metro Manila at 34 percent (from 24 percent).

The SWS survey had 1,500 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus three percent.