Friday, October 25, 2019

...the Hunger status

Hunger in Pinoy families lowest in 15 years — SWS 


Janvic Mateo
Philippine Star
25 October 2019


MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipino families who said they have experienced hunger at least once in the past three months dropped to its lowest in the past 15 years, according to the third quarter survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS).




The survey, conducted from Sept. 27 to 30 with the results released Wednesday, showed 9.1 percent of the 1,800 adult respondents said their families have experienced involuntary hunger due to lack of food to eat.

This translates to an estimated 2.3 million families, the lowest since the 7.4 percent hunger rate obtained in a similar survey conducted in March 2004.

The SWS said the drop in hunger rate was due to decreasing number of families who experienced moderate hunger, or those who experienced involuntary hunger only once or a few times in the last three months.

Moderate hunger fell from 8.7 percent in June to 7.4 percent in September, also the lowest in 15 years.

Meanwhile, the number of people who said their families experienced severe hunger – or those who experienced it often or always – in the past three months have slightly increased from 1.3 percent to 1.7 percent.

Based on the survey, the hunger rate fell among those who classify their families as poor, from 16.2 percent in June to 14 percent in September.

Meanwhile, the number of families who do not consider themselves as poor but have experienced hunger increased from 4.9 percent to 5.6 percent.

By geographic location, the number of families who experienced hunger in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon went down, from 15.7 percent to 8.3 percent and from 9.3 percent to 8.1 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, it went up in Mindanao, from nine percent in June to 11.9 percent in September. It remained unchanged among respondents from the Visayas at 8.7 percent.

The country’s hunger rate has spiked to over 20 percent several times during the term of former presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III.

It reached the record-high 23.8 percent in 2012, before going down towards the end of the previous administration.

The hunger rate has stayed relatively low during the present administration, with its highest at 15.9 percent in December 2017.

The latest survey has 1,800 respondents and an error margin of +/- 2.3 percent for national percentages.

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