MEAL ON THE TRACKS. A man cooks fish along the railways in Manila. Fewer Filipino families are experiencing hunger, according to a recent Social Weather Stations survey. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Fewer Filipino families have experienced involuntary hunger in the past quarter, a recent Social Weather Stations survey whose results were released on Friday showed.
Results of the survey, conducted June 3 to 6, showed that 15.1 percent of Filipino families went hungry in the past three months. The figure translates to three million families, down from 4.1 million families (20.5 percent of respondents) recorded in March.
The latest hunger rate is the lowest since June 2007, when the figure recorded was at 14.7 percent, based on SWS data.
In its latest survey, SWS asked 1,200 respondents nationwide: “In the last 3 months, did it happen even once that your family experienced hunger and 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 classifies experiencing hunger only once or a few times as “moderate hunger,” while going hungry often or always is categorized as “severe hunger.”
Nationwide, those who experienced moderate hunger decreased from 15.7 percent (3.2 million families) in March to 13.1 percent (2.6 million families) in June.
Those who experienced severe hunger fell from 4.7 percent (950,000 families) in March to 2 percent (403,000 families) in June.
By geographical area, overall hunger rates decreased in Luzon outside Metro Manila and Metro Manila, while those of the Visayas and Mindanao increased.
From a record high of 25 percent (2.2 million families) in March, overall hunger in Luzon outside Metro Manila went down by 15.3 points to 9.7 percent (845,000 families). It is the first time a single-digit figure has been recorded in the area since December 2004, according to SWS data.
Moderate hunger decreased in the area from 18.7 percent to 7.7 percent, along with severe hunger percentage from 6.3 percent to 2 percent.
In Metro Manila, overall hunger fell from 20.7 percent (580,000 families) in March to 13 percent (366,000 families) in June – the lowest since the September 2006 record of 12.8 percent.
Moderate hunger in Metro Manila decreased from 16.7 percent to 11.3 percent, along with severe hunger from 4 percent to 1.7 percent.
On the other hand, those who experienced hunger in the Visayas increased from 14.7 percent to 21 percent. This is mainly due to the rise of moderate hunger in the area – from 9.7 percent to 18.3 percent. Severe hunger went down from 5 percent to 2.7 percent in June.
Those who went hungry in Mindanao also increased from 16.7 percent to 21.7 percent. Moderate hunger in the area increased from 14.7 percent to 20 percent, even as severe hunger decreased from 2 percent to 1.7 percent.
SWS used face-to-face interviews for the non-commissioned survey, which had an error margin of +/-3 percentage points.