GROSS domestic product grew 7.1 percent in the third quarter of 2021 despite heightened pandemic restrictions imposed in various parts of the country. During the same period, the number of families who rated themselves poor declined. The Social Weather Stations' (SWS) third-quarter self-rated poverty survey, however, also showed that while the percentage of Filipino families who felt poor declined from 48 percent in June to 45 percent — 11.4 million families — in September, those who felt "not poor" also dropped from 23 percent to 21 percent. Thirty-four percent — one third of the population — consider themselves as "borderline poor."

Self-rated poor in the Visayas dropped from 70 percent in June to 54 percent (below pre-pandemic levels) in September. The "not poor" made up only 4 percent. The rest – 42 percent — rated themselves as "borderline poor." In comparison, the "not poor" proportion of the population in Metro Manila and (Balance) Luzon was 37 percent and 30 percent, respectively. Mindanao's self-rated poor rose to 58 percent (above pre-pandemic levels) from 51 percent while the proportion of families who felt "not poor" showed little change: from 7 percent in June to 8 percent in September.

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