By Brian Jules Campued
More Filipinos experienced involuntary hunger in December 2023, results from the poll conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
The SWS survey conducted from December 8-11 found that 12.6% of Filipino families experienced “being hungry and not having anything to eat at least once in the past three months.”
The figure rose by 2.8% from the 9.8% survey result in September of last year.
Of the said percentage, 11.2% said they experienced moderate hunger or went hungry “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months while 1.4% experienced severe hunger or felt hungry “often” or “always” in the same period.
SWS said the experience of hunger was highest in Balance Luzon at 14.3%, followed by Metro Manila at 12.7%, Mindanao at 12%, and Visayas at 9.3% .
“The 2.8-point rise in hunger between September 2023 and December 2023 was due to increases in Mindanao, Balance Luzon, and the Visayas, combined with a decline in Metro Manila,” the SWS said in its report published on Monday.
Metro Manila’s hunger rate went down from 17.3% to 12.7%.
Meanwhile, the 2023 annual hunger rate declined to 10.7% compared to the 11.7% average recorded in 2022. However, it is still above the pre-pandemic hunger incidence rate of 9.3% in 2019.
Further, the same survey also found that 47% of Filipino families rated themselves as “mahirap” or poor while 20% said they were not poor.
The SWS report also stated that 32% of families rated themselves as food-poor.
The poll was conducted face-to-face among 1,200 adults nationwide. – avds
