4.8M Families Went Hungry in Q3 –SWS

A survey by pollster Social Weather Stations concluded that some 4.8 million Filipino families claimed to have gone hungry in the third quarter of 2014, the most number of families to do so this year.

GMA news online reported SWS poll found that 22 percent of respondents claimed experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the last three months. The third quarter numbers are the worst since the highest quarterly national rate of 22.7 percent in June 2013, and 5.7 points above the 16.3 percent (about 3.6 million families) in the second quarter, report said. This was 2.5 points more than the 19.5 percent annual average in 2013.

Report said that SWS explained that the 22 percent third quarter national hunger rate was due to increased hunger among those who perceived themselves poor, food-poor and non-food-poor, combined with steady hunger among the non-poor.

SWS report said that at any one point in time, hunger among the self-rated food-poor is always greater than hunger among the self-rated poor.

The SWS poll was taken from Sept. 26 to 29 among 1,200 respondents. The poll measured involuntary suffering, with respondents experiencing hunger due to lack of food. Sampling error margins of ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages applied to the survey, report said.

Respondents were asked about “moderate hunger” or experiencing hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months; and “severe hunger” or experiencing hunger “often” or “always” for the same period, said the report.

The respondents who did not state frequency of hunger were classified under “moderate hunger.” Poll results pointed to both moderate and severe hunger being on the rise, it said.

Some 17.6 percent (3.8 million families) claimed experiencing moderate hunger in the third quarter, the highest since the 18 percent in August 2012. The third quarter moderate hunger numbers are 4.1 points up from the second quarter’s 13.5 percent (3.0 million families).

Severe hunger worsened, from the second quarter’s 2.8 percent (609,000 families) to the third quarter’s 4.4 percent (970,000 families). The severe hunger numbers are the worst since the 5.4 percent in June 2013.

Rate Increased

The SWS poll found that the hunger rate increased in all areas except Mindanao.

Metro Manila registered a 22-percent hunger rate in the third quarter, the worst so far this year. Nevertheless, this was better than the 23.5 percent 2013 average. In Balance Luzon, the hunger rate was 24.3 percent in the third quarter, better than the 26 percent in the second quarter of 2014. Still, the third quarter numbers are worse than the 18.3 percent 2013 average, report said.

For the Visayas, the hunger rate was 18.7 percent, better than the high of 21 percent in the second quarter of 2013, but worse than the 16.1 percent average last year, it added.

In Mindanao, the third quarter hunger rate was 20.3 percent, better than the 21.3 percent high in the second quarter, and better than the 22.1-percent four-quarter average in 2013, GMA News Online reported.

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