SWS: Hunger highest since pandemic

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s hunger rate sharply increased this month, reaching its highest level since the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

Conducted from March 15 to 20, the survey found that 27.2 percent of respondents experienced involuntary hunger or not having enough food to eat at least once in the past three months.

This marks a six-point rise from 21.2 percent in February and a significant increase from 15.9 percent in January.

The latest figure is also seven points higher than last year’s 20.2 percent average and is the highest recorded since the 30.7 percent hunger rate in September 2020.

Of the 27.2 percent, 21 percent of respondents reported experiencing moderate hunger, while 6.2 percent endured severe hunger – an increase from 15.8 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively, in February.

Moderate hunger refers to experiencing hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the past three months, while severe hunger is defined as occurring “often” or “always” within the same period.

Involuntary hunger increased across all regions, with the highest recorded in the Visayas at 33.7 percent (up from 20 percent).

Metro Manila followed at 28.3 percent (from 27.3 percent), Mindanao at 27.3 percent (from 23.3 percent), and the rest of Luzon at 24 percent (from 19.1 percent).

The survey was conducted with 1,800 respondents and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.31 percentage points.