SWS: Families who suffer from hunger rises to over 14%; highest rate in NCR

INQ file photo

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino families who experienced “involuntary hunger” rose to 14.2 percent in March 2024, based on the Social Weather Stations’ (SWS) latest survey results.

According to the SWS, “involuntary hunger” refers to experiencing hunger and not having access to food at least once in the past three months.

READ: SWS: Involuntary hunger rate hits 12.6 percent in December 2023

“Compared to December 2023, hunger rose by 1.6 points, from 12.6 percent,” the SWS said.

“The March 2024 hunger figure was 3.5 points above the 10.7 percent annual hunger rate of 2023 and the highest since 16.8 percent in May 2021,” it added.

The SWS said the 14.2 percent is the sum of 12.2 percent of Filipino families who experienced “moderate hunger” or those who experienced hunger only once or a few times in the past three months, and 2 percent who experienced “severe hunger” or those who experienced it often or always.

Both moderate and severe hunger were higher than in December 2023 at 11.2 percent and 1.6 percent.

Highest in Metro Manila

The survey showed that the hunger rate was highest in Metro Manila at 19 percent, rising by 6.3 percent from 12.7 percent in December 2023.

Balance Luzon and Visayas followed at 15.3 percent and 15 percent, both with an increase from 9.3 percent and 14.3 percent in December 2023.

On the other hand, only Mindanao recorded a decrease from 12 percent in December 2023 to 8.7 percent.

SWS survey on Filipino families suffering from hunger

READ: SWS: 46% of Filipino families felt poor in March 2024

SWS said the survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults — 600 in Balance Luzon, and 300 each in Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.

It had sampling error margins of ±2.5 percent for national percentages, ±4.0 percent for Balance Luzon, and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.