Nearly half of Filipino families, or 49%, still consider themselves poor as of June 2025, according to the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS). This figure marks a slight dip from 50% recorded in April and translates to about 13.7 million households, down from 14.1 million.
The marginal decline in self-rated poverty was largely driven by fewer poor families in the Visayas and areas outside Metro Manila, even as the numbers rose in Mindanao and the capital region.
Among those who identified as poor, a significant 34.8% said they have always been poor. Meanwhile, 6.4% said they had been non-poor more than five years ago, and 7.8% said they only fell into poverty within the past one to four years.
The percentage of families identifying as “borderline poor”—neither poor nor clearly not poor—climbed to 10%, up two points from the April survey’s record low of 8%.
Meanwhile, 41% of families considered themselves not poor, slightly lower than April’s 42% high.
In terms of food security, 41% of households described themselves as food-poor, 10% as borderline food-poor, and 49% said they were not food-poor.
Despite economic challenges, family spending on essentials remained mostly unchanged. Median expenses in June included ₱3,000 for rent, ₱2,000 for transportation to work or school, and ₱800 for internet. The only notable shift was a drop in mobile phone load spending from ₱400 to ₱300.
The SWS survey, conducted from June 25 to 29, involved face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adult respondents—300 each from Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. The national margin of error is ±3%, and ±6% for each region.
