INQUIRER.net / Jerome Cristobal
Hunger eased in the first quarter of 2023 to 9.8 percent or an estimated 2.7 million Filipino families who experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months, results of the March 26 to March 29 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Thursday showed. The March hunger rate was down from 11.8 percent or some 3 million families in December 2022 and 11.3 percent or 2.9 million families in October 2022. Still, it was higher than the 8.8 percent or estimated 2.1 million families in December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The SWS said the hunger rate was highest in Mindanao at 11.7 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 10.7 percent, the Visayas at 9.7 percent and Luzon outside Metro Manila at 8.7 percent. The two-point decline in overall hunger between December 2022 and March 2023 was due to decreases in all areas, especially in Luzon outside Metro Manila, where it went down by 2.6 points, from 11.3 percent or 1.3 million families to 8.7 percent or 1.1 million families. The SWS survey used in-person interviews with 1,200 adult respondents and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.8 percent. —Inquirer Research