Hungry Filipino families fall to 9.8% in 3rd quarter of 2023: SWS

MANILA – The number of Filipino families who experienced "involuntary" hunger at least once in the third quarter of the year fell to 9.8 percent, according to the latest survey by pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The Sept. 28 to Oct. 1 poll found that hunger incidence in the past three months was lower than the 10.4 percent registered in second quarter and the same as the 9.8 percent in first quarter.

According to SWS, the September 2023 hunger figure is composed of 8.4 percent of respondents who said they experienced moderate hunger and 1.3 percent who experienced severe hunger.

As of September 2023, the experience of hunger was highest among those in Metro Manila at 17.3 percent from 15.7 percent in June 2023, followed by Balance Luzon at 10.3 percent from 11.3 percent, Visayas at 6.7 percent from 9.3 percent, and Mindanao at 6.7 percent from 6.3 percent.

"The 0.6-point decline in Overall Hunger between June 2023 and September 2023 was due to declines in the Visayas and Balance Luzon, combined with a rise in Metro Manila and a steady score in Mindanao," SWS said.

SWS said the rate of overall hunger fell among the self-rated poor from 10.8 percent in June 2023 to 7.7 percent in September 2023, as well as among the self-rated food-poor from 9.4 percent to 7 percent.

The September survey showed that 48 percent of Filipino families rated themselves as poor, 27 percent as borderline poor, and 25 percent as not poor.

Meanwhile, some 34 percent of families rated themselves as food-poor, 35 percent as borderline food-poor, and 31 percent and not food-poor.

The survey had 1,200 adult respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percent for national percentages. (PNA)