AROUND 2.5 million Filipino families experienced hunger due to lack of food at least once in the past three months, according to a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The Sept. 2021 hunger rate is 3.6 points below the 13.6% rate recorded in June 2021, and 11.1 points below the 2020 annual average of 21.1%, SWS said in a report.
However, the third quarter report is “0.7 points above the 2019 annual average of 9.3%,” SWS said. “The resulting 13.5 percent average for the first three quarters of 2021 is less than for last year but has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.”
Of the 2.5-million figure, the pollster said around two million families experienced moderate hunger, while 534,000 families experienced severe hunger.
Moderate hunger refers to those who experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times” from July to September, while severe hunger refers to those who experienced it “often” or “always” in the same period.
It attributed the 3.6-point decline in overall hunger between June 2021 and Sept. 2021 to decreases in all areas except Metro Manila. “Hunger has been worst in Metro Manila in 21 out of 95 surveys since July 1998.”
After Metro Manila, hunger incidence was highest in the rest of Luzon, followed by Mindanao, and the Visayas.
There were 1,200 Filipino adults who participated in the survey conducted from Sept. 12 to 16. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza