AROUND 4.2 million Filipino families experienced hunger in the last three months, the April 28 to May 2 survey of the Social Weather Station (SWS) showed.
The survey, which involved 1,200 adult respondents nationwide with a margin of error of ± 3 percent, showed that 16.8 percent or an estimated 4.2 million families experienced hunger due to lack of food to eat at least once in the past three months, almost unchanged from the 16 percent or an estimated 4 million families recorded in November 2020.
This, however, is still higher than the pre-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic hunger rating of 8.8 percent or an estimated 2.1 million families in December 2019.
Cabinet Secretary and task Force Zero Hunger head Karlo Nograles said the government is ramping up efforts to make food more affordable, accessible, and available to the public.
SWS said hunger was highest in Mindanao with 20.7 percent or an estimated 1.2 million families (up from 16 percent in November 2020), followed by the Visayas with 16.3 percent or an estimated 776,000 families (up from 14.3 percent), Luzon at 15.7 percent or an estimated 1.8 million families (up from 14.4 percent), and Metro Manila at 14.7 percent or an estimated 496,000 families (down from 23.3 percent).
Last week, SWS released its findings on self rated poverty and food poverty where 49 percent of the respondents said their families were poor while 33 percent said they were “borderline poor,” and 17 percent “not poor.”
It also said that 32 percent of the families rated themselves as “food-poor,” 45 percent were “borderline food-poor,” and 23 percent “not food-poor.”
