Number of hungry Pinoys slightly lower – SWS

MANILA, Philippines - The number of Filipino families who said they experienced involuntary hunger barely changed in the past three months, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

The nationwide poll from March 27 to 30 found 17.8 percent of the respondents or about 3.9 million families saying they had experienced having nothing to eat in the past three months.

Results of the SWS poll were printed in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday.

SWS said the new hunger rate was slightly lower than the 18.1 percent recorded last December.

Both moderate and severe hunger also hardly changed between December 2013 and March 2014, the SWS noted.

Moderate hunger, referring to those who experienced having nothing to eat “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months, eased by 0.4 point to 15 percent or an estimated 3.3 million families, the SWS said.

Severe hunger, or families who claimed to have experienced going hungry “often” or “always,” rose by 0.1 point to 2.8 percent or about 615,000 households, the survey showed.

Hunger fell from 12.3 to 12 percent (about 356,000 families) in Metro Manila. It dropped by 1.7 points in Mindanao to 18 percent (estimated 898,000 families) and by 0.8 point to 16.7 percent (701,000 families) in the Visayas.

It rose by 4.3 points to 20 percent (1.9 million families) in balance Luzon.

SWS said moderate hunger dropped in Metro Manila from 9.3 to nine percent; the Visayas (1.6 points to 12.7 percent) and Mindanao (0.6 point to 16.7 percent). It, however, went up by three points to 17 percent in balance Luzon.

Severe hunger, meanwhile, fell to three percent in Metro Manila and 1.3 percent in Mindanao.

It rose in the Visayas by 0.8 point to 4 percent and by 1.3 points to three percent in the rest of Luzon.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.