Hunger up in SWS 4th quarter survey

AN ESTIMATED 3.6 million or 15.9% of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months — a 4.1-point increase from the 11.8% (est. 2.7 million families) in September 2017, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) pointed out in its Fourth Quarter 2017 Social Weather Survey.

December’s 15.9% “is the highest recorded value for hunger since the 17.2% in December 2014,” SWS noted.

“Still, this gives an average hunger rate of 12.3% for all quarters of 2017, 1 point below the 13.3% in 2016,” The polling group added. “This is the lowest annual average hunger rate since 11.8% in 2004, due to the near record-low 9.5% in June 2017.”

The measure of hunger refers to involuntary suffering because respondents (household heads sought by the survey) answer a survey question that specifies hunger due to lack of food to eat.

Respondents were asked, “In the last 3 months, did it happen even once that your family experienced hunger and not have anything to eat? “ Further asked about their experiencing hunger, respondents in their replies varied from “only once” or “a few times” (moderate hunger) to “often” or “always” (severe hunger) in the last three months.

December’s 15.9% hunger is the sum of 12.2% (est. 2.8 million families) who experienced moderate hunger and 3.7% (est. 841,000 families) who experienced severe hunger, SWS said, adding that moderate hunger rose by 2.6 points (from 9.6% in September to 12.2% in December), and severe hunger, by 1.6 points (from 2.1% to 3.7%). SWS noted that moderate hunger and severe hunger have been increasing for the past two quarters.

SWS further noted the rise in hunger alongside, on the other hand, a 3-point drop in self-rated poverty between September and December, 2017. The polling group said this was due to an increase in the incidence of hunger among both the self-rated poor and the self-rated non-poor.

Hunger also rose among the self-rated food poor, going up by 9 points from 19.8% in September to 28.8% in December. It rose by 1.9 points among the Not Food-Poor/Food- Borderline (from 8% to 9.9%).

SWS also found an increase in hunger in all areas, with the 15.9% consisting of 14.7% or an estimated 457,000 families in Metro Manila (a 3-point increase from 11.7% last September); 17.7% or about 1.8 million families in Balance Luzon (a 3.9-point increase); 13.3% or about 589,000 families in the Visayas (a 3.6-point increase); and 15.3% or about 802,000 families in Mindanao (a 5.6-point increase).

The survey was conducted from Dec. 8-16, 2017, 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 ±2.5% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao).