SWS: More Pinoys experienced hunger in Q1 of 2019

At least 10 percent or an estimated 2.5 million families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months, according to the Second Quarter 2019 Social Weather Survey.

This shows an increase in the hungry Filipinos compared to the 9.5%, estimated at 2.3 families, in the March 2019 SWS survey.

In December 2018, the hunger rate was at 10.5%, while in September 2018, it was 13.3 percent.

The second quarter SWS survey was conducted from June 22-26, 2019 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao).

The survey questions on the family's experience of hunger are directed to the household head. The survey was non-commissioned.

The measure of Hunger refers to "involuntary suffering since the survey question specifies that the hunger experienced was due to lack of food to eat."

According to SWS, the 10 percent national quarterly hunger rate in the second quarter is the sum of 8.7 percent (estimated 2.1 million families) who experienced moderate hunger and 1.3 percent (estimated 320,000 families) who experienced severe hunger.

SWS defines moderate hunger as those "who experienced hunger Only Once or A Few Times in the last three months, while Severe Hunger refers to those who experienced it Often or Always in the last three months.

Hunger up in Metro Manila and Mindanao

In Metro Manila, the hunger rate rose by 4 points, from 11.7% (est.  387,000 families) in March, to 15.7% in June.

It also rose in Mindanao by 2.9 points, from 6.1% (est. 345,000 families) in March to 9.0% in June.

In Balance Luzon, it fell by 1 point, from 10.3% (est. 1.1 million families) in March, to 9.3% in June.

In the Visayas, it fell by 1.3 points, from 10.0% (est. 472,000 families) in March, to 8.7% in June [Chart 7, Table 5].

Among self-rated poor

The increase, however, happened only among the self-rated poor and self-rated food poor families, SWS said.

Self-Rated Poverty (SRP) measures the proportion of respondents rating their family as poor or mahirap. Meanwhile, Self-Rated Food Poverty (SRFP) measures the proportion of respondents rating the food their family eats as poor or mahirap.

The Hunger rate went up by 4.3 points, from 11.9% in March (est. 1.1 million families) in March, to 16.2% (est. 1.8 million families) in June among self-rated poor families.

In contrast, it went down by 3 points among self-rated non-poor families, from 7.9% (est. 1.2 million families) in March, to 4.9% (est. 664,000) in June.

Among self-rated food poor families, it went up from 14.2% (est. 959,000 million families) in March, to 17.3% (est. 1.5 million families) in June.

In contrast, it went down by 1.6 points among self-rated non-food poor families from 7.7% (est. 1.3 million families) in March, to 6.1% (est. 985,000 families) in June. —LDF, GMA News