SWS: Number of Pinoys who faced hunger went down to 2.9M in 2nd quarter 2022

The number of Filipino families who experienced involuntary hunger went down from 3.1 million in the first quarter of 2022 to 2.9 million in the second quarter, or the last three months in office of former President Rodrigo Duterte, according to a report by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) issued this weekend.

Results of the June 26 to 29, 2022 national SWS survey on hunger showed that 11.6% of Filipino families or an estimated 2.9 million, experienced being hungry and not having anything to eat at least once in the past three months.

SWS said that the hunger rate in June 2022 was 0.6 points below the 12.2% (estimated 3.1 million families) in April 2022, and 0.2 points below the 11.8% (estimated 3.0 million families) in December 2021.

This was however 1.6 points above the 10% (estimated 2.5 million families) in September 2021.

It was also still 2.3 points above the pre-pandemic annual average of 9.3% in 2019, according to the survey firm.

Down in NCR, Visayas; up in Mindanao, Balance Luzon

Hunger was experienced the highest still by families in the National Capital Region (NCR) at 14.7%.

This hunger incidence in the region was, however, already a decline by 3.9 points from 18.6% (estimated 636,000 families) in April to 14.7% (estimated 501,000 families) in June.

SWS pointed out hunger has been highest in Metro Manila in 24 out of 98 surveys since July 1998.

This was followed by Mindanao at 14.0%, Balance Luzon at 11.9%, and Visayas at 5.7%.

The hunger incidence also fell by 2.1 points in the Visayas from 7.8% (estimated 373,000 families) in April, to 5.7% (estimated 272,000 families) in June.

On the other hand, the hunger incidence went up by 0.9 points in Mindanao from 13.1% (estimated 761,000 families) in April 2022, to 14.0% (estimated 816,000 families) in June.

Balance Luzon also saw an increase by 0.2 points from 11.7% (estimated 1.3 million families) in April to 11.9% (estimated 1.4 million families) in June.

Moderate, severe hunger

Of the 11.6% hunger rate in June 2022, SWS said 9.4% or some 2.4 million families experienced moderate hunger, while 2.1% or 546,000 families experienced severe hunger.

SWS defined people with moderate hunger as those who experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months.

Severe hunger is faced by those who experienced it “often” or “always” in the last three months, it added.

Self-rated poor, food-poor

The recent survey also found that 48% of Filipino families rated themselves as “mahirap” or poor, 31% as borderline poor, and 21% as “hindi mahirap” or not poor.

Meanwhile, based on the type of food they eat, the same survey showed that 34% of families rated themselves as food-poor, 40% as borderline food-poor, and 26% as not food-poor.

The survey was participated by 1,500 adults and was conducted using face-to-face interviews.

Its sampling error margins are ±2.5% for national percentages and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao, and ±4.0% for Balance Luzon. —KG, GMA News