2.9 Million Filipino Families Experienced Hunger in June: SWS

According to a June 26-29 survey.

by Erwin Colcol

Photo/s: Ted Aljibe, Agence France-Presse

Around 2.9 million Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger in June, a slight decrease from two months prior, results of a Social Weather Stations survey released on Saturday showed.

Some 11.6% of 1,500 adults polled from June 26 to 29 said they experienced being hungry and not having to eat at least once in the past three months. That's 0.6 point lower than 12.2% in April and 0.2 point below the 11.8% in December 2021.

The June 2022 Hunger rate, however, is 1.6 points higher than the 10% in September 2021 and 2.3 points above the pre-pandemic annual average of 9.3% in 2019.

READ: Nearly Half of Filipino Families Feel Poor, Survey Shows

Of these 2.9 million Filipino families, some 2.4 million said they experienced hunger "only once" or "a few times" in the last three months, while an estimated 546,000 families said they experienced hunger "often" or "always" during the same period.

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While experiencing the highest hunger rate among all regions at 14.7%, Metro Manila recorded the biggest decline in hunger incidence by 3.9 points from 18.6% in April 2022.

Hunger incidence also fell in Visayas to 5.7% from 7.8% in April, but rose in Mindanao to 14.0% from 13.1%, and Balance Luzon at 11.9% from 11.7%.

The same survey also showed that the rate of overall hunger in June fell to 15.3% from 17.6% in April among the Self-rated Poor. It also fell to 19.0% from 21.8% in April among those who rated themselves as food poor.

"Rates of hunger among the Self-Rated Food-Poor are always higher than rates of hunger among the Self-Rated Poor at any point in time," SWS said.

The survey was conducted just a few days before former President Rodrigo Duterte stepped down from his office and before incumbent President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. assumed his post.

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