Fewer hungry Pinoys in Q4 – SWS

by Helen Flores (The Philippine Star), 17 Dec 2020

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino families who experienced “involuntary hunger” dropped to 16 percent or about four million in the last quarter of the year, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in its latest report.

The latest hunger rate was 15 points below the record-high 30.7 percent or an estimated 7.6 million families in September 2020, according to the survey conducted from Nov. 21 to 25.

Nevertheless, it is double the pre-pandemic 8.8 percent or around 2.1 million families in December 2019, the pollster said.

SWS defines involuntary hunger as having nothing to eat at least once in the past three months.

Metro Manila has the highest incidence of hunger at 23.3 percent (about 780,000 families), followed by Mindanao at 16 percent (an estimated 909,000 families), balance Luzon at 14.4 percent (around 1.6 million families) and the Visayas at 14.3 percent (around 674,000 families).

In September 2020, hunger was at 40.7 percent (around 1.9 million families) in the Visayas, 37.5 percent (about 2.1 million families) in Mindanao, 28.2 percent (an estimated 941,000 families) in Metro Manila and 23.8 percent (around 2.6 million families) in balance Luzon.

“With hunger at 16.7 percent in May, 20.9 percent in July and 30.7 percent in September, the average hunger rate for the full-year 2020 is a new record 21.1 percent of families,” the SWS noted.

It surpasses the previous record of 19.9 percent in 2011 and 2012, and is double the average 9.3 percent for 2019, it said.

The 16 percent hunger rate in November 2020 is the sum of 12.6 percent or an estimated 3.1 million families who experienced “moderate hunger” and 3.4 percent or about 838,000 families who experienced “severe hunger.”?Moderate hunger refers to those who experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months.

Severe hunger, on the other hand, pertains to those who experienced it “often” or “always” in the last three months.

The Fourth Quarter 2020 Social Weather Survey, the first this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults, 18 years old and above, nationwide.