MANILA, Philippines — More Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger—or being hungry and not having anything to eat—at least once in the second quarter of 2023, a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations suggested.
Results of the June 28 to July 1 survey found that 10.4% of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months. It was up from 9.8% obtained in a survey in March, but down from 11.8% in December 2022.
SWS said the latest hunger rate was the sum of 8.3% of respondents who said they experienced moderate hunger and 2.1% who experienced severe hunger. Moderate hunger refers to those who experienced hunger only once or a few times in the last three months, while severe hunger refers to those who experienced it often or always.
The highest hunger incidence was in Metro Manila at 15.7%, followed by Luzon areas outside the capital region at 11.3%, Visayas at 9.3%, and Mindanao at 6.3%.
“The 0.6-point rise in overall hunger between March 2023 and June 2023 was due to increases in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon, combined with a steady percentage in the Visayas and a sharp decline in Mindanao,” the polling firm said.
Hunger rate rose sharply among non-poor families to 10.3% in June from 3.9% in March. It, however, fell among Filipino families who rated themselves as poor to 10.5% from 15.4%. Around 12.5 million households considered themselves poor during the second quarter of 2023, while 5.2 million families rated themselves as not poor.
Inflation has been on a downward trend for five consecutive months. It cooled to 5.4% in June—or at the time of the survey—largely due to slower increases in food prices.
The survey was based on face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults nationwide. The poll’s margins of error were ±2.5% for national percentages, ±4.0% in Balance Luzon, and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. — Gaea Katreena Cabico