The number of Filipinos who experienced involuntary hunger declined during the last quarter of 2018, the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed on Thursday.
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SWS said fewer Filipino families at 10.5 percent, or an estimated 2.4-million households, “experienced involuntary hunger at least once” in the past three months.
The latest figure is 2.8 percentage points lower than the previous 13.3 percent mark, with at least 3.1-million families experiencing hunger last September.
The recent survey result also brings the average hunger rate in 2018 to 10.8 percent, making it the lowest annual average rate since 7 percent in 2003.
However, of the 2.4-million families who experienced hunger, 2.1-million experienced “moderate” hunger. Roughly 354,000 households of them experienced “severe” hunger.
In its report, the polling company that the measure of hunger refers to involuntary suffering because the respondents answer a survey question that specifies hunger due to lack of food to eat.
“‘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 few who did not state their frequency of hunger were classified under Moderate Hunger,” it said.
The SWS said that moderate hunger decreased by 1.7 points, from 10.6 percent in September to 8.9 percent in December, making it the lowest recorded figure since the previous 8.1 percent in June.
Severe Hunger also declined by 1.3 points, from 2.8 percent in September to 1.5 percent in December, registering as the lowest figure since the 1.3 percent in June.
The SWS said quarterly hunger declined by 3.6 points among the Self-Rated Poor, from 18.5 percent in September to 14.9 percent in December last year.
In Metro Manila, quarterly hunger rose by one point, from 17.3 percent in September to 18.3 percent in December last year, registering a third consecutive increase in the incidence of hunger in Metro Manila, having risen by a total of 12.3 points for the whole of 2018.
In Balance Luzon, quarterly hunger decreased by three points, from 12.7 percent in September to 9.7 percent in December. On the other hand, quarterly hunger rose by 3.2 points in the Visayas, from 6.0 percent in September to 9.2 percent in December.
In Mindanao, quarterly hunger fell by 10 points, from 18.3 percent in September to 8.3 percent in December.
The Palace on Thursday was attributed the survey results to the efforts and governance of President Rodrigo Duterte, saying his policies were bearing fruit.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the country’s economy averaged growth of 6.6 percent during the first two years of Duterte’s presidency. Panelo said the new average is “the highest level of growth compared to the first two years of all previous post-EDSA administrations.”
“We are enthusiastic to witness our nation finally enter the upper-middle income country status this year,” said Panelo, citing the Department of Finance’s projections.
“The best is yet to come, as the Chief Executive continues to work double time in the remainder of his term to uplift more Filipino families out of poverty and hunger,” he added.
The SWS survey, conducted from Dec. 16 to 19, used face-to-face interviews with 1,440 Filipino adults. It has sampling error margins of ±2.6 percent for national percentages, and ±5 percent each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.
