Number of hungry Pinoys down but 3.8M still starve in Q4 of 2014 — SWS

The average annualized hunger rate in the Philippines slipped to its lowest level in seven years, according to a new survey by pollster Social Weather Stations.

 

SWS said the average hunger rate for all of 2014 was 18.3 percent.  Back in 2007, that same rate was at 17.9 percent.

In 2013, the average hunger rate was 19.5 percent.

 

In the last quarter of 2014, the SWS estimates that 3.8 million families went hungry. This level is down from 4.8 million families in the third quarter.

 

The survey was conducted Nov. 27 to Dec. 1, among 1,800 adults nationwide. It had sampling error margins of ±2% for national percentages; ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon and Mindanao; and ±3% for the Visayas.

The results of the survey were posted Friday on SWS' media partner BusinessWorld.  SWS defined hunger as involuntary suffering due to lack of food to eat. Household heads were the survey respondents.

 

Geographically

 

The 17.2 percent hunger rate in December included 13.2 percent (2.9 million families) who experienced “moderate” (“only once” or “a few times” in the last three months) hunger and 4.1 percent (888,000 families) who experienced “severe” hunger (“often” or “always” in the last three months).

 

It said “moderate” hunger in December declined by 4.4 points from 17.6 percent (3.8 million families) in September, while “severe” hunger fell by just 0.3 point from 4.4% (970,000 families).

 

The hunger situation also improved across geographic areas, with Metro Manila and “Balance Luzon” showing the biggest improvement.

 

SWS said hunger declined 7.3 points in Metro Manila to 14.7 percent (about 438,000 families) in December from 22.0 percent (654,000 families) in September.

 

This brought the 2014 average in Metro Manila to 16.0 percent, or 7.5 percent below the 2013 average of 23.5 percent and the lowest since the 16 percent average recorded in 2006.

 

In Balance Luzon, hunger fell six points to 18.3 percent (1.8 million families) from 24.3 percent (2.4 million families) in the third quarter.

 

But the area’s 2014 full-year 19.3 percent was a point above the 2013 average.

 

In Visayas, hunger fell by 2.3 points to 16.4 percent (690,000 families) from 18.7 percent (786,000 families) in the third quarter. This brought the full year average to 16.6 percent, or 0.5 point above 2013’s 16.1 percent.

 

In Mindanao, hunger slipped by three points to 17.3 percent (867,000 families) in the fourth quarter from 20.3 percent (1 million families) in the third quarter, bringing its full-year average to 19.2 percent, 2.9 points below 2013’s 22.1 percent.

Hunger a scandal

Pope Francis, who visited the Philippines last week, had said hunger is a "scandal."

"The scandal that millions of people suffer from hunger must not paralyze us, but push each and every one of us to act: singles, families, communities, institutions, governments, to eliminate this injustice," he said as early as December 2013.

In 2014, he kicked off a campaign against world hunger, with the goal of ending world hunger by 2025, Rome Reports said.

During his Philippine visit, former street children who met him at the University of Santo Tomas spoke of their experience with hunger.

“Hindi ko alam kung saan ako tutuloy. Natutulog ako sa tabing kalye at ginagawa ang karton bilang sapinan,” he said. “Di ko alam kung anong kakainin ko sa bawat araw. Naghihintay na lang akong matapos ang ibang kumain at hihingin ko ang kanilang pagkain,” said Jun Chura.

Chura said he found hope after being taken in by Tulay ng Kabataan. He and Glyzelle Palomar had an encounter with the Pope at the University of Santo Tomas last Jan. 18. — Joel Locsin/ELR/LBG, GMA News