SWS: Hunger incidence steadies in 2016

MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos who experienced hunger during the last quarter of 2016 steadied from the third quarter and a year ago, the Social Weather Stations survey said.

The average hunger rate last year was at 13.3 percent, which is broadly steady from 2015's 13.4 percent.

The survey conducted from December 3 to 6 using face-to-face interviews showed that the total hunger rate for the fourth quarter of 2016 was 13.9 percent.

The SWS noted that the measure of hunger refers to involuntary suffering as the respondents answered a question that specified hunger due to lack of food to eat.

The total hunger rate was the sum of 10.9 percent or an estimated 2.5 million families who experienced "moderate hunger" and 3 percent or an estimated 673,000 families 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 last three months," the SWS said.

The steady hunger situation was observed across geographic areas, according to the SWS report.

In Metro Manila, the average hunger rate was 12.8 percent, 3.8 points lower than the 16.6 percent average in 2015.

A 13.6 percent full-year average was recorded in balance Luzon, 1.2 points higher than 2015's 12.4 percent.

In Visayas, hunger climbed by 3.1 percent from 2015's 10.8 percent to 13.9 percent in 2016.

Mindanao registered a lower hunger average of 12.7 percent last year from 15.8 percent in 2015.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said that Malacañang takes note of the survey results. He also attributed the stready hunger reates to the rise in consumer prices, according to a report from BusinessWorld.

The survey was conducted among 1,500 respondents nationwide with a ±3 points sampling error margins.