Self-rated hunger continues to rise – SWS poll

MANILA, Philippines —  Self-rated hunger, especially among poor Filipinos, further increased in the third quarter of the year, according to a survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey, conducted from Sept. 14 to 23, found that 22.9 percent of the respondents said their family experienced involuntary hunger or “being hungry and not having anything to eat at least once in the past three months.”

It was up from the 17.6 percent obtained in a similar survey in June, and was the
 highest since the record-high 30.7 percent obtained in September 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on the poll, the latest involuntary hunger rate is composed of 16.8 percent of respondents who said their families experienced moderate hunger (from 12.8 percent in December) and 6.1 percent who experienced severe hunger (from 4.9 percent).

Moderate hunger is defined as 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.

Across areas, involuntary hunger nearly doubled among respondents in Visayas and Mindanao.

It was highest among those in Mindanao at 30.7 percent (from 15.7 percent), followed by those in the Visayas at 26 percent (from 13.7 percent), Metro Manila at 21.7 percent (from 20 percent) and rest of Luzon at 18.1 percent (from 19.6 percent).

Hunger among poor

SWS noted the involuntary hunger sharply increased among poor Filipinos.

Based on the September poll, 59 percent of the respondents rated their families as “poor,” 13 percent as “borderline poor” and 28 percent as “not poor.”

Among “poor” respondents, 29.3 percent said they experienced involuntary hunger in the past three months, up from 21.3 percent in June.

Meanwhile, those who experienced involuntary hunger among “non-poor” respondents slightly increased from 12.7 percent to 13.8 percent.

“Hunger occurs at different rates among the poor and the non-poor. At any single point in time, hunger is usually higher among the poor. From quarter to quarter, however, the hunger rates among the poor and among the non-poor may change, either upward or downward,” SWS said.

The survey had 1,500 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus 2.5 percent for the national percentages.