The number of Filipino families who experienced involuntary hunger in the second quarter of 2022 during the Duterte administration went down to 11.6 percent which translates to 2.9 million, according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) report on Saturday, Sept. 10.
In its national survey conducted from June 26 to 29, SWS said the June 2022 hunger rate is 0.6 points below the 12.2 percent or 3.1 million families in April this year. It is also 0.2 points below the 11.8 percent or 3 million in December 2021.
SWS defined involuntary hunger as "being hungry and not having anything to eat, at least once in the past three months".
However, SWS said the June 2022 hunger rate is 1.6 points above the 10 percent or 2.5 million families in September 2021 and 2.3 points above the pre-pandemic hunger rate of 9.3 percent in 2019.
Moderate and severe hunger
SWS said the 11.6 percent hunger rate in June 2022 is the sum of 9.4 percent or 2.4 million families who experienced "moderate hunger" and 2.1 percent who experienced "severe hunger."
The hunger rate is the highest in Metro Manila at 14.7 percent of Filipino families, this was followed by Mindanao at 14.0 percent, Balance Luzon at 11 percent, and the Visayas at 5.7 percent.
"It has been highest in Metro Manila in 24 out of 98 surveys since July 1998," SWS said.
Self-rated poor and self-rated food poor
The June 2022 survey also showed that 48 percent of Filipinos rated themselves as "poor", 31 percent considered themselves as "borderline poor" and 21 percent felt "not poor".
About 34 percent of families considered themselves "as food-poor", 40 percent rated themselves as "borderline food-poor", and 26 percent felt "not food-poor''.
The June 2022 SWS survey through mobile phone interviews was participated by 1,500 adults nationwide, aged 18 years old and above.
About 300 individuals in Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, and 600 in Balance Luzon were interviewed.
