SWS: 4 million Pinoy households experienced hunger

About four million households, or one of five Filipino families, experienced hunger at least once during the past three months, according to a June survey by Social Weather Stations. While hunger was over 20 percent for three successive quarters, it has worsened as the number of those who experienced severe hunger has increased, the pollster said. "While Overall Hunger hardly changed, the composition worsened because Severe Hunger rose by 1.4% and Moderate Hunger fell by 1.5%," SWS said on its website Wednesday. Overall hunger was 21.2 percent in March 2010, and a record 24 percent in December 2009. The 1998-2010 average rose to 13.6 percent, the June survey showed. Hunger is an involuntary suffering, the SWS said in its survey where respondents answered questions on the frequency of experiencing the lack of anything to eat. Severe hunger In general, the hunger rate has not changed, but its composition worsened as Severe Hunger rose by 1.4 percent and Moderate Hunger fell by 1.5 percent. Moderate Hunger, which in the survey refers to the experience of having nothing to eat "Only Once" or "A Few Times" in the last three months, declined from 18.4 percent (3.4 million families) in March to 16.9 percent (3.2 million families) in June. Severe Hunger, the experience of having nothing to eat "Often" or "Always" in the last three months, rose from 2.8 percent (530,000 families) in March to 4.2 percent (780,000 families) in June. "Thus, the Severely Hungry became 20% of the Overall Hungry, up from 13% in the previous quarter," SWS said. Metro Manila Overall Hunger rose by almost 5 points in Metro Manila, from 17.3 percent (432,000 families) in March to 22 (at 550,000 families) in June. It rose by 2 points in Mindanao, from 24 percent (1 million families) to 26 percent (1.1 million families). The category declined by almost 3 points in Balance Luzon – Luzon minus Metro Manila – from 20.9 percent (1.7 million families) to 18.3 percent (1.5 million families), while it was little changed in the Visayas from 21.2 percent (800,000 families) to 21 percent (790,000 families). Moderate Hunger rose by almost 6 points in Metro Manila, from 13.3 percent in March to 19 percent in June. It fell by four points in Balance Luzon, or 18.1 percent to 14 percent, and by almost 2 points in the Visayas from 18.8 percent to 17.3 percent. It hardly changed in Mindanao, from 21.4 percent to 21 percent. "The new Moderate Hunger rates are higher than their 12-year averages for all areas," SWS said. Severe Hunger rose by over 2 points from 2.6 percent to 5 percent in Mindanao, by over 1 point from 2.8 percent to 4.3 percent in Balance Luzon, and by over 1 point from 2.3 percent to 3.7 percent in the Visayas. It fell by 1 point from 4 percent to 3 percent in Metro Manila. "The new Severe Hunger rates are higher than their 12-year averages for all areas except in Metro Manila, where the latest score of 3.0% is slightly lower than its average of 3.5%," the pollster said. The June 2010 Social Weather Survey was done from June 25 to 28, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, with error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% for area percentages. —LBG/VS, GMANews.TV