9 in 10 Filipinos say poverty has not improved — survey

Most Filipinos feel little to no improvement in poverty under the current administration, with many saying conditions have worsened, according to a survey conducted by the OCTA Research group.

The new poll reveals that most Filipinos see little to no progress in the country’s battle against poverty under the current administration.

Findings from the Tugon ng Masa survey, conducted July 12 to 17 among 1,200 adults nationwide, show that 47 percent of respondents believe poverty levels remain unchanged, while 41 percent think conditions have worsened. 

Only 11 percent feel the situation has improved, a modest uptick from April’s nine percent, but far below the 26 percent recorded during the early months of the Marcos presidency in late 2022.

The results mirror the sentiment from April 2025, where a combined majority also reported no improvement in poverty conditions. 

Back in October 2022, however, only one in four Filipinos said the situation had worsened, while nearly half felt nothing had changed.

The same survey highlights a steady rise in self-rated poverty, with 45 percent of families, roughly 11.9 million households, identifying themselves as poor in July.

This result is up from 42 percent in April, with only 11.1 million or 41 percent at the start of the current administration.

Those who considered their families “not poor” slipped to 16 percent from 18 percent in April, though still higher than the 13 percent recorded in October 2022.

The other 39 percent were undecided, a decline from 46 percent when the administration began.

Regional breakdowns reveal sharper increases outside Metro Manila.

In Luzon, excluding Metro Manila, the proportion of families rating themselves poor jumped from 29 to 37 percent. 

In Mindanao, the figure also climbed, from 61 to 63 percent.

The trend is most visible among lower-income households, with nearly three in four families in Class E (71 percent) and close to half in Class D (45 percent) see themselves as poor.

By contrast, the share among upper- and middle-class groups (A, B, and C) dropped from 29 percent in April to just 11 percent in July.

On average, families who consider themselves poor estimate that they need to keep their monthly spending below Php 25,000 to avoid falling into poverty. 

To move above the poverty line, however, they say they would need an additional ₱7,000 each month.