A recent Social Weather Station (SWS) survey revealed that a family with a minimum monthly budget of P12,000 does not consider themselves poor.
The Self-Rated Poverty Threshold (SRP Threshold) is the minimum monthly budget poor families say they need for home expenses in order not to consider themselves as poor.
Further, SWS asks its self-rated poor respondents how much they lack (“Magkano pa po ba ang kulang ninyo sa ngayon?”) in their minimum monthly budgets relative to their SRP Threshold. The answer is called the Self-Rated Poverty Gap (SRP Gap).
“The SRP Threshold and SRP Gap are presented below in terms of their medians, which is the amount that addresses only the requirements of the poorer half of the poor,” SWS said in its report.
“In the past, the median SRP Gap has generally been half of the median SRP Threshold. This means that the poorer half of the poor lack about half of what they need to not consider themselves as poor. An increase in the proportion of the median Gap relative to the median Threshold means a worsening in families’ budget for home expenses,” it added.
Also read: SWS survey says 48% of Filipino families feel poor
SWS survey: Family with monthly budget of P12K not poor
In November 2020, the national median SRP Threshold is P12,000, while the median SRP Gap was P5,000. Both were unchanged from December 2019.
In Metro Manila, the median SRP Threshold in November 2020 remained at P15,000 while the median SRP Gap rose to P7,000, from P5,000 a year ago.
In Balance Luzon, the median SRP Threshold went down to P10,000 (from P13,000) while the median SRP Gap remained at P5,000.
In the Visayas, both the median SRP Threshold and median Gap increased. The median Threshold in November 2020 rose to P15,000 (from P10,000), while the median Gap rose to P7,000 (from P5,800).
In Mindanao, both the median SRP Threshold and Gap were unchanged; the median Threshold was P10,000, and the median Gap was P5,000.
The SWS survey also found 48% of Filipino families said they feel Poor, while 36% feel Borderline Poor, and only 16% feeling Not Poor.
Report from: SWS