Millions of Filipinos are still experiencing hunger in the Q3 of 2022.
A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that 11.3 percent or 2.9 million Filipinos experienced “involuntary hunger” moving into the third quarter (Q3) of 2022.
The survey found that people who reported that their family went hungry and did not have anything to eat at least once in the previous three months had barely moved since the previous poll in June, Philippine Star reported.
In SWS’ data, 11.3 percent hunger rate is made up of 9.1 percent who experienced "moderate hunger," or hunger "only once" or "a few times," and 2.2 percent who experienced "severe hunger," or hunger "often" or "always."
Those who reported moderate hunger fell slightly from 9.4 percent in June to 2.1 percent, while those who reported severe hunger increased by 0.1 point from 2.1 percent.
Metro Manila has the highest incidence of hunger
Metro Manila has the highest incidence of hunger, with 16.3 percent of families, or approximately 558,000 followed by Mindanao at 15.3 percent, Balance Luzon at 9.6 percent, and the Visayas at 7 percent.
The hunger reported in the latest survey is the highest out of the 99 polls that SWS conducted since July 1998.
Food price hikes
Hunger in Metro Manila increased by 1.6 percentage points from 14.7 percent in June, while it increased by 1.3 percentage points in the Visayas and Mindanao from 5.7 percent and 14 percent respectively.
Balance Luzon excluding Metro Manila fell by 2.3 percent from 11.9 percent.
Moderate hunger in Metro Manila fell from 11.3 percent to 10.7 percent. However, severe hunger increased from 3.3 percent to 5.7 percent.
In Mindanao, moderate and severe hunger increased to 12.3 percent and 3 percent from 12 percent and 2 percent respectively.
In Visayas, moderate hunger rose to 6.3 percent from 5 percent while severe hunger remained at 0.7 percent.
Meanwhile, in Balance Luzon, moderate hunger fell to 8.1 percent from 9.4 percent while severe hunger fell to 1.5 percent from 2.5 percent.
Based on the SWS, overall hunger decreased among "non-poor" people to 6.7 percent from 8.1 percent while it increased among "poor" people to 16 percent from 15.3 percent.
Additionally, overall hunger fell to 7.4 percent from 7.8 percent among the "non-food poor" and barely moved to 19 percent from 18.9 percent for those who have been identified as food poor.
Rising food prices may be one of the reasons why more Filipinos are going hungry going into the Q3 of 2022.
The survey was based on in-person interviews with 1,500 adults across the country, with 300 from Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao, and 600 from Balance Luzon. It took place from September 29 to October 2.
The margin of error for national percentages is ±2.5 percent, while it is ±5.7 percent each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, and ±4.0 percent for Balance Luzon.
Tags: #Filipino, #Hunger, #SWS, #Survey