SWS: Around 2.5 million Filipino families experienced hunger in end-2021

MANILA, Philippines — With the Duterte administration coming to a close, new survey results by the Social Weather Stations suggest that over a tenth of all Filipinos or around 2.5 million families experienced being hungry amid the coronavirus pandemic at least once to end 2021. 

In a report of the results of its non-commissioned national survey, the SWS found that 11.8% of Filipino families, or an estimated 3.0 million, experienced involuntary hunger – being hungry and not having anything to eat – at least once in the past three months.

The Fourth Quarter 2021 Social Weather Survey was conducted from the week of December 12 to 16, 2021, although the report on its results was only sent to the media on Friday, March 25. 

"The December 2021 Hunger rate is 1.8 points above the 10.0% (estimated 2.5 million families) in September 2021, but still lower than the 16.8% in May 2021 and 13.6% in June 2021," the report reads. 

"The resulting annual average Hunger rate for 2021 is 13.1% versus the record-high 21.1% for 2020. However, this is still above the 9.3% annual average for 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic."

The experience of hunger was also highest in Metro Manila at 22.8% of families. Hunger reportedly rose in all areas except in Balance Luzon while also rising among self-rated poor and food-poor families.

The 11.8% hunger rate in December 2021 is the sum of 9.2%, or an estimated 2.3 million families who experienced moderate hunger and 2.6%, around 657,000 families, who experienced severe hunger.

Moderate hunger refers to those who reported experiencing hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months. Severe hunger referred to those who said they experienced it “often” or “always” in the last three months.

Methodology

The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults with sampling error margins of ±2.6% for national percentages, and ±5.2% for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

The area estimates were weighted by the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2021 to obtain the national estimates.

The exact phrasing of the survey questions (the source language is Filipino; English translation included) was:

• “Nitong nakaraang tatlong buwan, nangyari po ba kahit minsan na ang inyong pamilya ay nakaranas ng gutom at wala kayong makain? [In the last three months, did it happen even once that your family experienced hunger and not have anything to eat? (Yes, no)].
   
• “If experienced hunger: Nangyari po ba ‘yan ng minsan lamang, mga ilang beses, madalas, o palagi? [Did it happen only once, a few times, often, or always?]"