MANILA, Philippines — A total of 12.2% of Filipinos, or an estimated 3.1 million families, experienced hunger in the first quarter of 2022, according to a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations from April 9 to 27.
“The April 2022 hunger rate is 0.4 points above the 11.8 percent (estimated 3.0 million families) in December 2021, and 2.2 points above the 10 percent (estimated 2.5 million families) in September 2021,” said the SWS.
“However, it is 0.9 points below the 13.1% annual average for 2021,” it added.
Highest in Metro Manila
According to the SWS, the experience of hunger was highest in Metro Manila at 18.6% of families, followed by Mindanao at 13.1%, Balance Luzon at 11.7%, and the Visayas at 7.8%.
“It has been highest in Metro Manila in 23 out of 97 surveys since July 1998,” said SWS.
However, the higher hunger incidence in the country was due to the increases in Balance Luzon and Mindanao, while the rate decreased in Metro Manila and the Visayas region.
When compared to the hunger rate of Balance Luzon in December 2021, the rate increased from 9.2% to 11.7%, which was the same in Mindanao where it rose from 12.2% to 13.1% in April 2022.
Meanwhile, the hunger rate in Metro Manila dropped from 22.8% to 18.6%, as well as in the Visayas where it decreased from 9.7% to 7.8%.
More suffered ‘moderate hunger’ vs ‘severe hunger’
The SWS also reported that of the 12.2% of families, 9.3% or around 2.4 million families experienced “moderate hunger,” while 2.9% or 744,000 families experienced “severe hunger.”
As explained by SWS, 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.
SWS said the noncommissioned survey was conducted among 1,440 total adults, using face-to-face interviews, with sampling error margins of ±2.6 percent for national percentages and ±5.2 percent for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
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