Hunger among Filipinos hits new high in Q4 2024 – SWS survey
MANILA, Philippines — Hunger among Filipinos again reached a new high in the final quarter of 2024, results of the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.
The number of Filipino families who experienced involuntary hunger rose from 22.9 percent in September 2024 to 25.9 percent in December 2024, according to the SWS report released on Tuesday night.
The pollster said this was the highest incidence of hunger since the 30.7-percent peak logged in September 2020 during the height of the Covid-19 lockdown.
READ: Hunger among Filipinos remains at its highest since 2020 – SWS poll
SWS defines “involuntary hunger” as the state of “being hungry and not having anything to eat.”
Article continues after this advertisementOf the 25.9-percent figure, 7.2 percent experienced “severe hunger,” while 18.7 percent experienced “moderate hunger.”
Article continues after this advertisementFor the pollster, “severe hunger” means experiencing hunger “often” or “always” in the previous three months, while “moderate hunger” means experiencing hunger “a few times” or “only once” during the same period.
The report showed an increase of 1.1 percentage points in “severe hunger” and 1.9 percentage points in “moderate hunger” – which were 6.1 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively, in the September 2024 survey.
READ: DSWD: 300,000 Filipinos benefit from anti-hunger program in 2024
As a result, the annual average of Filipinos experiencing involuntary hunger in 2024 was at 20.2 percent, nearly double the 10.7 percent average in 2023 and also just 0.9 percentage points shy of the record-high 2020 average, which was 21.1 percent.
The SWS conducted the latest survey from Dec. 12 to 18, 2024 through face-to-face interviews with 2,160 adults across the country. The margin of error for national percentages is ±2 percent.