More self-rated poor went hungry, survey says

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Some 3.9 million Filipino families went hungry in the first quarter of the year, with a marked increase noted among the self-rated poor, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

Overall hunger incidence in the last quarter stood at 17.8 percent, marginally lower than the 18.1 percent three months earlier.

The survey was conducted from March 27 to 30 and was first published in BusinessWorld.

SWS found that overall hunger among the self-rated poor went up to 27.5 percent from 24.5 percent, while it declined among families under the not food-poor/borderline category to 7.1 percent from 10.3 percent.

Overall hunger likewise increased among the self-rated “food-poor” to 30.8 percent from 30.4 percent, but slightly dropped among families under the not food-poor/borderline category to 9.6 percent from 9.7 percent.

The latest hunger survey follows the release by SWS last week of self-rated poverty figures from the previous quarter where 53 percent (11.5 million Filipino families) said they were “poor,” a slight improvement from the 55 percent (11.8 million families) in December last year.

In the recent survey, the SWS found 39 percent (8.5 million families) rated themselves food-poor, down from 41 percent (8.8 million families).

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

Moderate hunger declined to 15 percent (3.3 million families) from 15.4 percent. Severe hunger, meanwhile, went up to 2.8 percent (615,000 households) from 2.7 percent.

Overall hunger incidence declined notably in Metro Manila (from 24.3 percent to 12 percent), the Visayas (from 17.5 percent to 16.7 percent) and Mindanao (from 19.7 percent to 18 percent), except in the rest of Luzon (from 15.7 percent to 20 percent).

Likewise, moderate hunger fell in Metro Manila (from 18.3 percent to 9 percent), the Visayas (14.3 percent to 12.7 percent) and Mindanao (17.3 percent to 16.7 percent) but went up in the rest of Luzon (14 percent to 17 percent).—Inquirer Research

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