Self-rated poverty, hunger down in Q1 2024: OCTA

FILE: STOPPING HUNGER. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. checks a food table during the pilot implementation of the “Walang Gutom 2027: Food Stamp Program” at the Don Bosco Youth Center Tondo – Technical Vocational Education and Training Center in Manila on Tuesday (July 18, 2023). Marcos said the Department of Social Welfare and Development initiative is one of the ways to help the government realize its dream of ending hunger and poverty. (PNA photo by Rey Baniquet)

MANILA – A new OCTA Research survey found that fewer Filipino families rated themselves poor and hungry in the first quarter of 2024.

According to the Tugon ng Masa survey conducted from March 11 to 14, 2024, the country’s self-rated poverty is at 42 percent, which is 3-percent lower compared to 45 percent recorded in a similar survey held in the fourth quarter of 2023.

This means that around 11.1 million families felt their situation got better in March this year, compared to around 11.9 million families in December 2023.

OCTA said the 3-percent decrease, translating to around 800,000 families, represents a “continuing downward trend in self-rated poverty” observed since July 2023 when self-rated poverty was at 50 percent.

“It must be noted that self-rated poverty has been going down at a modest rate for the last five quarters starting July 2023,” it said.

The pollster explained that among those who considered their families poor, the median amount they need for home expenses in order not to be called poor anymore is PHP20,000 per month.

Self-rated poverty was highest in Mindanao at 71 percent, followed by the Visayas at 47 percent, Metro Manila at 29 percent, and Balance Luzon at 28 percent.

In terms of self-rated hunger, the survey found that around 11 percent, or an estimated 2.9 million Filipino families, experienced involuntary hunger in the past three months.

The March 2024 self-rated hunger figure is 3 percent lower than the recorded 14 percent, or around 3.7 million families, in the December 2023 survey.

Across major areas respondents who said their families experienced hunger were highest among those in the Visayas at 13 percent (from 19 percent), followed by those in Mindanao at 12 percent (from 18 percent), Balance Luzon at 9 percent (from 11 percent) and Metro Manila at 9 percent (from 8 percent).

Meanwhile, some 37 percent of the respondents, or an estimated 11.

1 million Filipino families, said they consider their families as “food-poor” or those who “struggle to obtain a sufficient and healthful diet.”

This finding represents a significant 5 percent dip from the December 2023 survey that recorded 42 percent of those rated as food-poor.

The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of over 1,200 adults nationwide.

The survey has a ±3% margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level.