SWS: 600,000 more hungry Filipinos in 1st quarter
Some 3.9 million families went hungry in the first quarter of the year, up by around 600,000 from the previous quarter, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) Survey.
The results of the March 19-22 survey, first published in Business World, showed 19.2 percent of the respondents, or about 3.9 million families, saying that they experienced hunger in the past three months, an increase of 16.3 percent from 3.3 million families in December.
The rise in hunger diverged from the decrease in self-rated poverty recorded in the same period: from 54 percent (10.9 million families) in December to 52 percent (10.6 million families) in March.
Under the Aquino administration, hunger rates have ranged from a low of 15.1 percent in June 2011 to a peak of 23.8 percent in March 2012, which was also the survey’s record high since June 1998. The survey’s record low was the 5.1 percent in September 2003.
SWS asked 1,200 respondents in Filipino: “In the last three months, did it happen even once that your family experienced hunger and did not have anything to eat?”
Those who answered in the affirmative were further asked: “Did it happen only once, a few times, often or always?”
SWS classified experiencing hunger “only once” or “a few times” as “moderate hunger,” while going hungry “often” or “always” was rated as “severe hunger.”
Those who said they experienced moderate hunger rose from 12.7 percent (2.6 million) in December to 15.6 percent (3.2 million) in March. On the other hand, those who said they went through severe hunger was unchanged at 3.6 percent (726,000 families).
Overall hunger increased in all areas except Metro Manila, where it fell to 21.7 percent in March, from 25.3 percent in December.
It rose by 9.2 percentage points in Mindanao (from 20 percent to 29.2 percent), by two percentage points in Luzon outside Metro Manila (from 12.7 percent to 14.7 percent), and by over a percentage point in the Visayas (from 13.3 percent to 15 percent).
Moderate hunger increased in Mindanao (from 16 percent to 22.7 percent), Visayas (from 10.7 percent to 13.7 percent) and Luzon outside Manila (9.7 percent to 12 percent). It eased only in Metro Manila (from 19.3 percent to 17.3 percent).
Severe hunger was highest in Mindanao (from 4 percent to 6.7 percent). It slipped in the rest of the areas: Metro Manila (from 6 percent to 4.3 percent), Luzon outside Metro Manila (from 3 percent to 2.7 percent) and the Visayas (from 2.7 percent to 1.3 percent).
The SWS used face-to-face interviews with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for national percentages.
The SWS noted that severe hunger rates are lower than the 14-year averages in Luzon outside Metro Manila and the Visayas, but are higher in Mindanao and Metro Manila.
Among the self-rated poor, overall hunger rose from 22.7 percent to 25.5 percent. Among the nonpoor, it rose from nine percent to 12.2 percent.
Among the self-rated food-poor, hunger rose from 25.8 percent to 33.1 percent. Among those who said they were not food-poor, hunger rose from 8.8 percent to 10.4 percent.
Self-rated food poverty eased from 44 percent in December to 39 percent in March, according to SWS.—Inquirer Research
