Manila, Philippines — More Filipinos have rated themselves as ‘poor’ during the fourth quarter of 2024, an OCTA Research Survey reported.
In the Tugon ng Masa survey conducted from November 10 to 16, 2024, 50% of the respondents considered themselves as poor during the last year’s last quarter.
This is equivalent to about 13.2 million Filipino families with self-rated poverty.
This data also showed a 7-percentage increase from the second quarter survey in August, which represents an additional of 1.3 million Filipino families rating themselves as poor.
Based on the survey results, self-rated poverty was highest in Mindanao at 69%, which also showed a 9-percentage rise compared to the August 2024 survey.
Following this is Visayas at 59%, Balanced Luzon which climed at 43%, and the National Capital Region (NCR) at 30%.
47% believes that the state of poverty remained the same as the third quarter, while 32% said that it was worse than before.
Among the respondents who consider their families poor, the report stated that the median amount they need for house expenses to not be considered as poor is P25,000 per month, while a median of P8,000 more each month to escape poverty.
4.2 MILLION PINOY FAMILIES HUNGRY IN 2024 4TH QUARTER
On the other hand, the same survey revealed that 16% of the Filipinos said they experienced involuntary hunger in quarter 4.
This is equivalent to 4.2 million Filipino families, which showed a 4-percentage increase from the August’s survey report.
Involuntary hunger is the state of “not having anything to eat atleast once in the last three months before the survey.”
The survey revealed that 86% stated that they became hungry once or on ly a few times, while 15% said they experienced frequent or consistent hunger over the mentioned period.
Highest percentage of individuals saying that they experienced involuntary hunger is recorded in Balance Luzon at 23%.
This was followed by NCR and Visayas both at 11%, and Mindanao at 10%.
Meanwhile, 49% of the survey participants, or about 12.9 million Filipino families considered themselves “food poor.”
Being food poor implies Filipino families that “struggle to obtain a sufficient and healthful diet”.
32% of the respondents believe that the hunger state in the Philippines worsened, while 47% said it has not changed.
The poll was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,200 total respondents nationwide aged 18 and above.