2018 hunger rate among lowest since 2003 —SWS

The number of Filipinos who experienced involuntary hunger was lower in the last quarter of 2018, according to the Fourth Quarter 2018 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

In the survey conducted from December 16 to 19, 2018 showed that 10.5 percent or about 2.4 million families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.

The figure is lower than the previous survey conducted in September 2018 in which at least 13.3 percent or 3.1 million families experienced hunger.

With this latest results, the average hunger rate for 2018 is 10.8 percent — 1.5 points  lower than the 12.3 percent average in 2017 and the lowest annual average hunger rate since 2003 in which the record was at 7.0 percent.

Of the 2.4 million families who experienced hunger, 2.1 million or 8.9 percent experienced moderate hunger while 354,000 or 1.5 percent experienced severe hunger.

The SWS clarified that the measure of hunger refers to involuntary suffering because the respondents answer a survey question that specifies hunger due to lack of food to eat.

Moderate Hunger refers to those who experienced hunger "Only Once" or "A Few Times" in the last three months, while Severe Hunger refers to those who experienced it "Often" or "Always" in the last three months.

The few who did not state their frequency of hunger were classified under Moderate Hunger.

The December 2018 Social Weather Survey was using face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults nationwide with 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao with sampling error margins of ±2.6 percent for national percentages, and ±5 percent each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Regions

Quarterly hunger rate in Metro Manila is at 18.3 percent or 581,000 families — a one-point increase from 17.3 percent or 549,000 families in September 2018.

The figure is the third consecutive increase in the incidence of hunger in Metro Manila with the increase of 12.3 points for 2018.

In Balance Luzon, quarterly hunger rate is at 9.7 percent or about 1 million families, which is lower by three points. In September 2018, the rate was at 12.7 percent or 1.3 million families.

For the Visayas, quarterly hunger rate is higher by 3.2 points from 6 percent or 269,000 families in September to 9.2 percent in December.

And in Mindanao, the quarterly hunger rate is at 8.3 percent with 443,000 families, which is lower by 10 points. The rate was from 18.3 percent or 975,000 families in September.

Self-rated poor

From September to December, quarterly hunger dropped by 3.6 points among the Self-Rated Poor, from 18.5 percent in September to 14.9 percent in December, which is the lowest recorded value since June 2018.

The hunger rate also decreased by 1.5 points among the non-poor over the same period, going from 7.6 percent to 6.1 percent.

Hunger also dropped among the Self-Rated Food Poor, down by 4.8 points from 22.3 percent in September to 17.5 percent in December. It decreased by 1.3 points among the Not Food-Poor/Food-Borderline, from 8.2 percent to 6.9 percent. — BAP/KBK, GMA News