Hunger up 21% in latest self-rated SWS poverty survey

More families reported experiencing hunger in the third quarter of the year, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

The survey, conducted from Aug. 24 to 27, showed that hunger went up to 21 percent, or an estimated 4.3 million households, in the recent quarter compared to the 18.4 percent, or 3.8 million households, recorded in the previous quarter.

The latest hunger survey  follows the SWS’s release early this week of a self-rated poverty survey where 47 percent of respondents, or 9.5 million families, claimed to be poor in the third quarter of 2012, a decrease from the 51 percent recorded in the previous quarter.

In the hunger survey, SWS asked 1,200 respondents nationwide: In the last three months, did it happen even once that your family experienced hunger and did not have anything to eat?

Those who answered “yes” were further asked: Did it happen only once, a few times, often or always?

SWS classified “moderate hunger” as experiencing hunger “only once” or “a few times,” while going hungry “often” or “always” was categorized as experiencing “severe hunger.”

Those who experienced moderate hunger nationwide rose from 13.7 percent (2.8 million households) in May to 18 percent (3.7 million households) in August.

Severe hunger moved down from 4.8 percent (974,000 households) last quarter to 3 percent (611,000 families) this quarter.

SWS used face-to-face interviews for the survey, which had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points for national percentages.

By geographical areas, overall hunger increased significantly in Metro Manila (from 16 percent in May to 26 percent this August) but remained unchanged at 17.3 percent in the Visayas. It remained statistically unchanged, given the margin of error, in the rest of Luzon (from 14.3 percent to 16 percent) and Mindanao (from 28.3 percent to 30.3 percent).

Mindanao’s overall hunger rate is the highest recorded in the region since December 2008.

The survey also showed that moderate hunger in Metro Manila went up from 12.7 percent to 20.3 percent, while severe hunger also rose from 3.3 percent to 5.7 percent.

Moderate hunger in the rest of Luzon rose from 8.7 percent to 14 percent, while severe hunger went down from 5.7 percent in May to 2 percent this August.

Moderate hunger and severe hunger in the Visayas remained statistically unchanged from 15 percent to 15.7 percent and from 2.3 percent to 1.7 percent, respectively.

Those who experienced moderate hunger in Mindanao rose from 22.3 percent to 26 percent, while severe hunger declined from 6 percent to 4.3 percent.  Inquirer Research