3.9M families say they went hungry in Q1 2014 – SWS poll

(Updated 9:27 a.m.) Some 3.9 million Filipino families said they experienced going hungry in the first quarter of 2014, according to a new survey by pollster Social Weather Stations.

The 3.9 million families who claimed to have experienced having nothing to eat in the last three months is equivalent to 17.8 percent of Filipino families. The 17.8 percent figure is “marginally lower” than the 18.1 percent in December 2013.

Also, the poll found that those who experienced severe hunger, having gone hungry “often” or “always,” rose 0.1 point to 2.8 percent or about 615,000 households.

Moderate hunger, or having nothing to eat “only once” or “a few times,” was experienced by 15 percent, or 3.3 million families.

The SWS poll, results of which was published by BusinessWorld on Monday, was taken from March 27 to 30, and used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. Sampling error margins of ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages applied to the survey.

By region

Regionally, hunger went down by 12.3 points to 12 percent (about 356,000 families) in Metro Manila, and fell by 1.7 points in Mindanao to 18 percent (about 898,000 families).

Hunger also fell by 0.8 point to 16.7 percent (701,000 families) in the Visayas.

However, hunger worsened by 4.3 points to 20 percent (1.9 million families) in Balance Luzon.

Meanwhile, moderate hunger went down in Metro Manila by 9.3 points to 9 percent; 1.6 points to 12.7 percent in the Visayas; and 0.6 point to 16.7 percent in Mindanao.

It rose by three points in Balance Luzon to 17 percent.

Severe hunger, the poor

Severe hunger, on the other hand, declined in Metro Manila by three points to 3 percent, and declined by one point to 1.3 percent in Mindanao.

However, severe hunger rose in the Visayas by 0.8 point to 4 percent, and rose by 1.3 points to 3 percent in Balance Luzon.

Hunger rose among the poor by three points to 27.5 percent, but fell by 3.2 points to 7.1 percent among the not poor/on the borderline.

For the food poor, hunger was felt by 30.8 percent, up by 0.4 point, and remained at 9.6 percent among those considered not food poor or on the borderline. — Joel Locsin/DVM/KG/RSJ, GMA News