About 11.8 percent of Filipino families, or an estimated 3 million households, experienced hunger in the 4th quarter of 2022, according to the results of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Thursday, Jan. 19.

SWS defines involuntary hunger as being hungry and not having anything to eat at least once in the past three months.

“The December 2022 Hunger figure is slightly above the 11.3 percent (estimated 2.89 million families) in October 2022 and 11.6 percent (estimated 2.95 million families) in June 2022. However, it is slightly below the 12.2 percent (estimated 3.1 million families) in April 2022,” SWS pointed out.

Hunger rises in Visayas, Balance Luzon; falls in Metro Manila, Mindanao

“The 0.5-point increase in Overall Hunger between October 2022 and December 2022 was due to increases in the Visayas and Balance Luzon, combined with decreases in Metro Manila and Mindanao,” SWS said.

Hunger is highest in Mindanao at 12.7 percent, followed by the Visayas at 12 percent, Metro Manila at 11.7 percent, and Balance Luzon—or Luzon outside Metro Manila—at 11.3 percent.

SWS noted that hunger has been highest in Mindanao in 38 out of 100 surveys since July 1998.

“Compared to October 2022, the incidence of hunger rose by 5.0 points in the Visayas, from 7 percent (estimated 336,000 families) to 12.0 percent (estimated 576,000 families),” it said.

It also rose by 1.7 points in Balance Luzon, from 9.6 percent (estimated 1.1 million families) to 11.3 percent (estimated 1.3 million families).

However, it fell by 4.6 points in Metro Manila, from 16.3 percent (estimated 558,000 families) to 11.7 percent (estimated 399,000 families).

It also declined by 2.6 points in Mindanao, from 15.3 percent (estimated 893,000 families) to 12.7 percent (estimated 738,000 families).

‘Moderate’ vs ‘severe’ hunger

According to SWS, the 11.8 percent hunger rate in December 2022 is the sum of 9.5 percent, or about 2.4 million families, who experienced “moderate” hunger, and 2.3 percent, or about 599,000 families, who experienced “severe” hunger.

In October 2022, SWS said that moderate hunger was at 9.1 percent (estimated 2.3 million families), and severe hunger was at 2.2 percent (estimated 573,000 families).

SWS refers to moderate hunger as having 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.

In Metro Manila, moderate hunger fell by 1.4 points from 10.7 percent in October 2022 to 9.3 percent in December 2022, while severe hunger fell by 3.4 points from 5.7 percent to 2.3 percent.

In Mindanao, moderate hunger fell by 3.0 points from 12.3 percent in October 2022 to 9.3 percent in December 2022, but severe hunger rose slightly by 0.3 points from 3.0 percent to 3.3 percent.

Meanwhile, in Balance Luzon, moderate hunger rose by 1.2 points from 8.1 percent in October 2022 to 9.3 percent in December 2022, and severe hunger rose by 0.5 points from 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent.

In the Visayas, moderate hunger also rose by 3.7 points from 6.3 percent in October 2022 to 10.0 percent in December 2022, while severe hunger rose by 1.3 points from 0.7 percent to 2.0 percent.

The non-commissioned nationwide survey was conducted among 1,200 respondents, using face-to-face interviews, from Dec. 10 to 14, 2022.