SWS: Families experiencing hunger drop in Q2

MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipino families who experienced involuntary hunger – or being hungry due to lack of food to eat – went down from 3.1 million in the first quarter of 2022 to 2.9 million in the second quarter, according to a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

Results of the survey conducted from June 26 to 29 showed 11.6 percent of Filipino families, or an estimated 2.9 million families, experienced being hungry and not having anything to eat at least once in the past three months.

The June 2022 Hunger rate is 0.6 points below the 12.2 percent (estimated 3.1 million families) in April 2022, and 0.2 points below the 11.8 percent (estimated 3.0 million families) in December 2021.

However, it is 1.6 points above the 10 percent (estimated 2.5 million families) in September 2021. It is also still 2.3 points above the pre-pandemic annual average of 9.3 percent in 2019.

The SWS said that the 11.6 percent hunger rate in June is the sum of 9.4 percent, or about 2.4 million families who experienced “moderate hunger,” and 2.1 percent or 546,000 households who suffered “severe hunger.”

“Moderate hunger” refers to those who experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the previous three months, while “severe hunger” refers to those who suffered from hunger “often” or “always” in the last three months.

Although hunger was experienced the highest in Metro Manila at 14.7 percent, or around 501,000 families, SWS said it is still a 3.9-point decline compared to the April data of 18.6 percent (636,000 families) in June 2022.

It fell by 2.1 points in the Visayas, from 7.8 percent (estimated 373,000 families) in April 2022, to 5.7 percent (estimated 272,000 families) in June 2022.

In Mindanao, it increased from 13.1 percent (estimated 761,000 families) in April 2022, to 14 percent (estimated 816,000 families) in June 2022.

In Luzon, it rose by 0.2 percent from 11.7 percent (estimated 1.3 million families) in April 2022, to 11.9 percent (estimated 1.4 million families) in June 2022.

In April 2022, Moderate Hunger was 9.3 percent (estimated 2.4 million families), and Severe Hunger was 2.9 percent (estimated 744,000 families).

In Metro Manila, Moderate Hunger fell by 1.7 points from 13.1 percent in April 2022, to 11.3 percent in June 2022, while Severe Hunger fell by 2.2 points from 5.6 percent to 3.3 percent.

The recent survey also found that 48 percent of Filipino families rated themselves as “mahirap” or poor, 31 percent as borderline poor, and 21 percent as “hindi mahirap” or not poor.

Based on the type of food they eat, the same survey showed that 34 percent of families rated themselves as food-poor, 40 percent as borderline food-poor, and 26 percent as not food-poor.

The Second Quarter 2022 Social Weather Survey was conducted from June 26 to 29, 2022, using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide.