(Eagle News) — The Philippines registered an average hunger rate of 10.8 percent in 2018, the lowest annual average hunger rate since 2003, the Social Weather Stations said.
In its December 16 to 19 survey, the SWS said in particular, 10.5% or an estimated 2.4 million families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months, or 2.8 points lower than the 13.3%, or an estimated 3.1 million families, hunger in September 2018.
The 2.8-point decrease in the quarterly hunger rate amid the 2-point decrease in self-rated poverty based on another recent SWS survey between September 2018 and December 2018 was “due to decreases in the incidence of hunger among both the self-rated poor and self-rated non-poor families,” the SWS said.
According to the pollster, from September to December, quarterly hunger dropped by 3.6 points among the self-rated poor, from 18.5% in September to 14.9% in December, the lowest recorded value since June 2018.
The rate also decreased by 1.5 points among the non-poor, from 7.6% to 6.1%.
Hunger also dropped among the self-rated poor, down by 4.8 points from 22.3% in September to 17.5% in December.
It decreased by 1.3 points among the not food-poor/food-borderline, from 8.2% to 6.9%, after having increased for two consecutive quarters, the SWS said.
Across geographical areas, hunger in Metro Manila was at 18.3% or an estimated 581,000 families, 9.7% or an estimated 1 million families in the Visayas, 9.2% or an estimated 411,000 families, and Mindanao at 8.3%, or an est. 443,000 families.
The December 2018 Social Weather Survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults nationwide: 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Sampling error margins were pegged at ±2.6% for national percentages, and ±5% each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.
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