MANILA, Philippines — Self-rated poverty and hunger went down in the third quarter, based on an OCTA Research group survey.
Self-rated poverty declined to 43 percent from 48 percent in June, according to the OCTA survey conducted from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2.
Self-rated hunger decreased to 11 percent in September from 16 percent in June.
In contrast, the third quarter survey of Social Weather Stations (SWS), conducted from Sept. 14 to 23, saw an increase in self-rated poverty and hunger.
Self-rated poverty increased by one point, from 58 percent in June to 59 percent, which matched the 59 percent obtained in June 2008.
Self-rated hunger increased to 22.9 percent in September from 17.6 percent in June. It was the highest since the record-high 30.7 percent in September 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Significant decreases among respondents in balance Luzon and Mindanao led to the drop in self-rated poverty and hunger, OCTA said.
Self-rated poverty is still the highest among those in Mindanao at 60 percent (from 77 percent), followed by the Visayas, 59 percent (from 52 percent); Metro Manila, 35 percent (from 28 percent) and the rest of Luzon at 30 percent (from 37 percent).
For self-rated hunger, it was highest among those in the Visayas at 20 percent (same as the June survey), followed by Mindanao and Metro Manila at 11 percent (from 25 percent and 12 percent, respectively) and the rest of Luzon at seven percent (from 11 percent).
Respondents were asked if their family experienced involuntary hunger, which meant they had nothing to eat at least once in the last three months before the survey.
OCTA said the latest self-rated poverty and hunger translate to about 11.3 million and 2.9 million Filipino families, respectively.
The OCTA survey had 1,200 respondents and a margin of error of three percent. The SWS poll had 1,500 respondents and a 2.5-percent margin of error.