SWS survey: Involuntary hunger up in Sept 

The number of Filipino families who experienced being hungry and having nothing to eat at least once in the past three months has gone up, breaking the previous downward trend, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on involuntary hunger.

Conducted from Sept. 24 to Sept. 30, the survey showed that involuntary hunger was at 22 percent, up by 5.9 points from 16.1 percent in June. The increase interrupted the downward trend earlier this year—from 27.2 percent in March to 19.1 percent from April 11 to April 15, and 20 percent from April 23 to April. 28.

The overall hunger rate in September consisted of 16.7 percent who experienced “moderate hunger” and 5.2 percent who felt “severe hunger.” Compared with June, moderate hunger rose by 3.9 points (from 12.8 percent), while severe hunger climbed by 1.9 points (from 3.3 percent).

SWS defines moderate hunger as experiencing hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months, and severe hunger as experiencing it “often” or “always” during the same period.

The 5.9-point rise in hunger in September was driven by increases in all areas except the Visayas, where hunger dropped by four points from 21.7 percent to 17.7 percent.

Highest in Metro

Hunger stayed highest in Metro Manila at 25.7 percent, four points up from the previous 21.7 percent. It was followed by Luzon outside Metro Manila at 23.8 percent, up by 8.5 points from 15.3 percent, and Mindanao at 19.7 percent, up by 10 points from 9.7 percent.

Hunger occurred at different rates among the poor and the nonpoor, with consistently higher rates among the poor. However, SWS noted that hunger rates among both groups fluctuated from quarter to quarter. Hunger also remained highest among the food-poor.

See Also

Marcos unveils key Cagayan projects to spur trade, food security

At the same time, SWS found that the rate of total hunger (moderate plus severe) among the self-rated poor went up from 21 percent in June to 26.9 percent in September. It also rose among the nonpoor (not poor and borderline poor) from 11.4 percent to 17 percent.

Among the self-rated food-poor, total hunger jumped from 21.3 percent to 31.5 percent, and among the nonfood-poor (not food-poor and borderline food-poor), it rose from 12.4 percent to 15.3 percent.

The survey was conducted among 1,500 adults using face-to-face interviews. It had a sampling margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percent for national percentages and plus-or-minus 4 percent for Luzon outside Metro Manila and 6 percent each for Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.