SWS: 1 of 5 Pinoy families claim going hungry despite decrease in self-rated poverty

Despite a slight decrease in self-rated poverty, about one out of five Filipino families – or about 4.3 million – claimed to have experienced hunger or having nothing to eat in the last three months, slightly more than those who said so last May, pollster Social Weather Stations said in a new survey. The SWS said this translated to 21 percent of Filipino families who claimed to have experienced hunger, higher than 18.4 percent of families who claimed to have felt hunger last May. But the SWS, in a report posted Friday on its media partner BusinessWorld, said this finding in the Third Quarter Social Weather Survey conducted Aug. 24 to 27 does not conflict with an earlier finding that fewer families claim to have experienced poverty. Earlier, the SWS said 47 percent or 9.5 million families said they were "mahirap" or poor, down from 51 percent in May. "The reason why hunger rose at the same time that poverty fell... is because of an increase in the hunger rate among the poor, as well as among the non-poor. At any one point in time, hunger is always greater among the poor, but from one point to another, the hunger rates among the poor and non-poor can change markedly," it said, according to the report on BusinessWorld. The third-quarter survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. Error margins of ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages applied to the survey. Rise in moderate hunger The SWS said the overall rise in hunger was due to an increase in moderate hunger, defined as experiencing having nothing to eat only once or a few times. It said moderate hunger went up to 18 percent (3.7 million families) from 13.7 percent in May. Severe hunger, experiencing hunger often or always, fell to 3 percent (611,000 families) from 4.8 percent. The SWS said the new moderate hunger rate is higher than the 14-year average of 11.0 percent, while the severe hunger rate is lower than the same period’s 3.5 percent average. It added overall hunger is well above the 14-year average of 14.4 percent, but is still below the record 23.8 percent recorded last March. Overall hunger rise sharpest in NCR The SWS said overall hunger rose the sharpest in Metro Manila, by 10 points to 26 percent or an estimated 738,000 families. Overall hunger rose in Mindanao to 30.3 percent (1.5 million families) and a similar increase was recorded in Balance Luzon (16 percent, 1.4 million families). It was unchanged in Visayas at 17.3 percent (670,000 families). Moderate hunger went up by almost eight points to 20.3 percent in Metro Manila, by over five points to 14 percent in Balance Luzon, almost four points to 26 percent in Mindanao, and was hardly changed at 15.7 percent (from 15 percent) in the Visayas. Severe hunger dropped in all areas except in Metro Manila where it rose by over two points to 5.7 percent. It declined by nearly four points to 2 percent in Balance of Luzon, by almost two points to 4.3 percent in Mindanao and went down to 1.7 percent from 2.4 percent in the Visayas. Considering poverty claims, the SWS said overall hunger rose to 30.6 percent from 26 percent among the self-rated poor, with a narrower increase to 11.6 percent from 10.7 percent among the not poor/on the borderline. It rose to 34.8 percent from 31.8 percent among the self-rated food poor, and hit 13.5 percent from 10.1 percent among the not food poor/food borderline. SWS said that as a concept, “poverty allows for various degrees of deprivation. Those who also suffer from hunger are more deprived than those who simply suffer from poverty." — LBG, GMA News