MANILA: Number of families experiencing involuntary hunger declined last quarter, according to the latest report by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), helping to bring the full-year average rate to its lowest point in 11 years in 2015.
Results of December 5-8 survey among 1,200 adults nationwide — with sampling error margins of ±3 points for national percentages and ±6 points each for Metro Manila, “Balance Luzon,” the Visayas and Mindanao — bared drops in Metro Manila, in Luzon areas outside the national capital and in Mindanao that offset a slight increase in the Visayas, Business World reported.
The latest survey reportedly found 11.7 percent of respondents, equivalent to an estimated 2.6 million families, saying they experienced having had nothing to eat at least once in the past three months, a four-point drop from 15.7 percent — equivalent to 3.5 million families — recorded in September last year.
SWS also reportedly noted that 2015’s average hunger rate of 13.4 percent is 4.9 points below the 2014 average of 18.3 percent and was the lowest annual average hunger rate since 2004’s 11.8 percent average.
Reportedly, overall hunger last quarter consisted of:
• the 8.9 percent, or an estimated two million families, who experienced “moderate hunger” — or lacked food to eat “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months — 5.2 points down from September’s 14.1 percent that was equivalent to 3.1 million families; and
• the 2.8 percent, equivalent to 621,000 families, who experienced “severe hunger” — or had nothing to eat “often” or “always” in the last three months — 1.2 points more than September’s 1.6 percent, or about 361,000 families.
Last week, the SWS noted that self-rated poverty among Filipino families steadied at 50 percent last quarter, similar to the 50 percent in the September survey, while those who rated themselves poor in terms of food — labelled the “food-poor” — declined by two points to 33 percent from 35 percent previously.
“The four-point fall in hunger rate amid the steady self-rated poor and the two-point decline in self-rated food-poor proportions, between September and December 2015, was due to falling hunger among both the poor and the ‘not poor/on the borderline’,” according to the SWS’ latest report, Business World quoted the report as saying.
It reportedly noted that, from September to December, overall hunger (“moderate” plus “severe”) fell by 6.5 points among the self-rated poor, to 14.4 percent from 20.9 percent and eased by 1.6 points among the “not poor/on the borderline” segment to 9.0 percent from 10.6 percent.
