SWS: More Pinoys went hungry in Q2

MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos have experienced involuntary hunger in the second quarter of the year, a recent survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

The June 28 to July 1 survey, with 1,500 adult respondents, reported that 10.4 percent of Filipino families did not have anything to eat at least once in the past three months.

It was slightly up from 9.8 percent in March, but lower than the 11.8 percent in December last year.

The latest hunger rate was still above the pre-pandemic average of 9.3 percent in 2019, but slightly lower than the 10.8 percent in 2018.

The June 2023 hunger rate is composed of 8.3 percent of respondents who said they experienced moderate hunger (down from 8.6 percent in March) and 2.1 percent who experienced severe hunger (up from 1.2 percent).

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” in the last three months.

According to SWS, the rise in overall hunger between March and June was due to a spike in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, combined with a steady rate among respondents in Visayas and a sharp decline in Mindanao.

By area, the hunger rate was highest among those in Metro Manila at 15.7 percent (from 10.7 percent), followed by those in the rest of Luzon at 11.3 percent (from 8.7 percent), Visayas at 9.3 percent (from 9.7 percent) and Mindanao at 6.3 percent (from 11.7 percent).

Data showed that the percentage of Filipino families who experienced involuntary hunger in Mindanao dropped to its lowest since 6.1 percent in the March 2019 survey.