Arya News - The surge in hunger comes as prices of basic food items have increased, with state statisticians reporting that food inflation accelerated to 6.7 percent in September from 4.6 percent in August.
MANILA – More Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger, rising to 22.6 percent in September from 20.3 percent in June, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Wednesday.
The September score reflects the sharp rise in living costs that hit households during the period, and was also 1.5 percentage points above the 21.1-percent average recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The survey, which was conducted from Sept. 21 to Sept. 27, showed that the uptick in hunger was due to increases in Metro Manila and in Luzon outside of Metro Manila.
SWS defines involuntary hunger as being hungry and having nothing to eat at least once in the past three months.
Across the regions, hunger was highest in Metro Manila at 27 percent, an increase of 6 percentage points from 21 percent in June. This was followed by Mindanao at 23.7 percent (down from 24 percent), Luzon outside Metro Manila at 23.6 percent (up by 6.3 percentage points from 17.3 percent) and the Visayas at 16 percent (down 6.3 percentage points from 22.3 percent).
The September hunger rate was the sum of the 16.2 percent who experienced “moderate hunger” and the 6.4 percent who experienced “severe hunger.”
“Moderate hunger” refers to 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 previous three months.
Compared to June, “moderate hunger” rose by 0.4 percentage points from 15.8 percent, while “severe hunger” rose by 1.9 percentage points from 4.5 percent.
“Moderate hunger” was highest in Metro Manila at 18.7 percent, up from 12.7 percent in June. This was followed by Mindanao at 18 percent (down from 20.7 percent), Luzon outside Metro Manila at 16.3 percent (up from 13 percent) and the Visayas at 12 percent (down from 18.7 percent).
Food inflation
Meanwhile, “severe hunger” was also highest in Metro Manila at 8.3 percent, unchanged from June. It was followed by Luzon outside Metro Manila at 7.3 percent (up from 4.3 percent), Mindanao at 5.7 percent (up from 3.3 percent) and the Visayas at 4 percent (up from 3.7 percent).
The surge in hunger comes as prices of basic food items went up, with state statisticians reporting that food inflation accelerated to 6.7 percent in September from 4.6 percent in August. This was driven by vegetable prices rising 10.7 percent from a 3.4-percent decline in the previous month. Rice inflation also soared to an over two-year high of 20.3 percent from 19.4 percent.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, Philippine inflation surged back to a three-year high of 7.2 percent in September as adverse weather and rising global oil prices fueled increases in food, utility and transport costs.
The September SWS survey also found that the rate of total hunger (moderate plus severe) among the self-rated poor rose from 24.5 percent in June to 27.9 percent, and rose among the self-rated food-poor from 29.9 percent to 33.2 percent. It was steady among the not poor/borderline from 16.2 percent to 16.1 percent, and fell slightly among the food-not-poor/food borderline from 14.7 percent to 14.3 percent.
The survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,500 respondents and had sampling error margins of plus-or-minus 3 percent for national percentages, plus-or-minus 4 percent for Luzon outside Metro Manila, and plus-or-minus 6 percent each for Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.