SWS 3rd Quarter Survey: 11.8 percent or 2.7M families experienced involuntary hunger

The number of Filipinos who experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the last three months increased in the third quarter of the year, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Wednesday.

The September 23-27, 2017 survey shows that 11.8 percent or an estimated 2.7 million families experienced involuntary hunger the past three months, a 2.3 point rise from the 9.5 percent or 2.2 million families last June 2017. In March, this was 11.9 percent (2.7 million families).

According to the SWS, "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."

After subjects were asked whether their family experienced hunger within the past three months or not, they were asked whether they experienced "moderate" hunger which refers to those who experienced hunger "only once" or "a few times" in the last three months, or "severe" which refers to those who answered "often" or "always."

Of the 2.7 million families who said they experienced hunger, an estimated 2.2 million (9.6 percent) said they experienced "moderate hunger." This was up by 1.8 points from the 7.9 percent in June. It was 9.7 percent in March.

Meanwhile, roughly 493,000 (2.1 percent) experienced "severe hunger," according to the SWS 3rd Quarter Survey. This was up by 0.5 point from the 1.6 percent in June. In March, this was 2.2 percent.

Those who did not indicate their frequency of hunger were included in the "moderate hunger" number.

GMA News Online is trying to get a statement from Malacañang as of posting time.

Hunger in self-rated poor and non-poor

The number has also risen among families whether they rated themselves as either "poor," "food-poor" or not.

Quarterly hunger among "self-rated poor" families rose by 3.1 points from 13.6 percent in the previous quarter to 16.7 percent by September.

Hunger among families who rated themselves "non-poor" also showed a rise of 1.1 points from 6.3 percent to 7.4 percent. "Non-poor" means those not poor and those at the borderline.

The number increased by 2.7 points among the Self-Rated Food-Poor, from 17.1 percent in June to 19.8 percent in September.

The rate went up by 2.1 points among Not Food-Poor/Food-Borderline from 5.9 percent to 8.0 percent.

The SWS noted that "at any one point in time, quarterly Hunger among the Self-Rated Food-Poor is always greater than Hunger among the Self-Rated Poor."

By geographical area

The SWS report also noted that hunger has risen in all areas of the country except Mindanao.

The quarterly hunger rate of 11.8 percent consisted of hunger in Metro Manila at 11.7 percent or about 364,000 families, Balance Luzon at 13.8 percent or about 1.4 million families, the Visayas at 9.7 percent or 427,000 families, and Mindanao at 9.7 percent or 506,000 families.

Quarterly hunger rose by 0.4 points in Metro Manila, from 11.3 percent or 353,000 families in June 2017 to 11.7 percent in September 2017.

Meanwhile, moderate hunger in Metro Manila decreased by 0.7 points, from 10.0 percent in June to 9.3 percent in September.

Severe hunger, however, rose by 1 point, from 1.3 percent in June to 2.3 percent in September.

In Balance Luzon, quarterly hunger rose by 5.5 points from 8.3 percent or 645,000 families in June to 13.8 percent in September.

Moderate hunger in Balance Luzon went up by 4.8 points, from 6.3 percent in June to 11.2 percent in September. Severe hunger in Balance Luzon also climbed by 0.7 point, from 2.0 percent in June to 2.7 percent in September.

In Visayas, quarterly hunger rose by 1 point, from 8.7 percent or about 324,000 families in June to 9.7 percent in September.

Moderate Hunger in Visayas was up by 1.3 points, from 7.3 percent in June to 8.7 percent in September. Severe hunger went down by 0.3 points, from 1.3 percent in June to 1.0 percent in September.

In Mindanao, quarterly hunger decreased by 1.7 points, from 11.3 percent or 523,000 families to 9.7 percent in September.

Moderate hunger in Mindanao went down by 2.3 points, from 10.0 percent in June to 7.7 percent in September. Severe hunger, however, increased by 0.7 points, from 1.3 percent in June to 2.0 percent in September.

Face-to-face interviews

The SWS survey used face-to face interviews with 1,500 adults (aged 18 and above) involving 600 people from Balance Luzon and 300 each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The annual averages or annual hunger rates have a sampling error margin of ±1.5 percent.

"The area estimates were weighted by the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2017 to obtain the national estimates," SWS said.

Error margins were at ±2.5 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent for Balance Luzon, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. —Margaret Claire Layug/BAP/KG, GMA News