SWS: Hunger among Filipino families rises to 23.2% in March 2026
MANILA, Philippines — More Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger in the first quarter of 2026, with the national rate rising to 23.2 percent, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.
The non-commissioned survey, conducted from March 24 to 31 through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults nationwide, showed an increase of 3.1 percentage points from the 20.1 percent recorded in November 2025.
READ: Involuntary hunger slightly eases in November 2025
SWS defines involuntary hunger as “being hungry ang having nothing to eat – at least once in the past three month.”
This marked the highest hunger rate since March 2025, when it reached 27.2 percent.
Meanwhile, among the country’s major areas, the Visayas posted the highest hunger incidence at 28 percent, followed by Luzon outside of Metro Manila at 22.4 percent, Metro Manila at 22 percent, and Mindanao at 21.7 percent.
Compared to November 2025, hunger rates rose by 7.7 percentage points in the Visayas, 5.7 points in Luzon outside Metro Manila, and 1.7 points in Metro Manila.
Mindanao, however, saw a 5-percentage-point decline.
SWS said the 23.2 percent national hunger rate consists of 17.7 percent experiencing moderate hunger and 5.5 percent experiencing severe hunger.
READ: 2 million families consider themselves poor – survey
The agency defines moderate hunger as “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 previous three months.”
Moreover, the survey further showed hunger rates increasing among both poor and non-poor families.
Hunger among self-rated poor families slightly rose from 27 percent in November 2025 to 27.5 percent in March 2026, while it climbed more sharply among non-poor families from 13 percent to 18.5 percent.
The survey had a sampling error margin of ±3 percent for national percentages. Subnational margins of error were ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, and ±4 percent for Luzon outside Metro Manila./dp
