Forty-six percent of Filipino families feel poor in March, the results of a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) done from March 21 to 25 and released on Thursday showed.

According to the poll conducted in from March 21 to 25, 46 percent of Filipino families saw themselves as poor, 30 percent rated themselves as borderline (between poor and not poor) and 23 percent saw themselves as not poor.

SWS said that compared to December 2023, the percentage of poor families “hardly changed” from 47 percent, borderline families also “hardly moved” from 33 percent, while not poor families slightly rose from 20 percent.

The poll also revealed that in the previous month, the highest percentage of self-rated poor families was in the Visayas at 64 percent, followed by Mindanao at 56 percent, Balance Luzon at 38 percent, and Metro Manila at 33 percent.

Compared to December 2023, self-rated poor slightly decreased in Mindanao from 61 percent and Metro Manila 33 percent, but it rose in the Visayas from 58 percent and hardly changed in Balance Luzon from 39 percent. Jaspearl Tan/DMS