About one in five Filipino families, or 20 percent, experienced involuntary hunger—being hungry and not having anything to eat—at least once in the past three months, based on the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from April 23 to 28.

The survey results, released on Friday, June 27, show that the hunger rate remained nearly unchanged from the 19.1 percent recorded in a survey fielded from April 11 to 15. 

However, both surveys reflect a significant improvement from the 27.2 percent reported in March.

SWS said hunger was highest in Mindanao at 26.3 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 20.3 percent, the Visayas at 19.7 percent, and Balance Luzon (areas outside Metro Manila) at 17 percent.

Moderate vs severe

The April 23–28 survey found that 16.4 percent of families experienced “moderate hunger,” meaning they were hungry “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months, while 3.6 percent experienced “severe hunger,” defined as being hungry “often” or “always.”

Compared to the results from April 11–15, moderate hunger increased slightly from 15.2 percent to 16.4 percent, while severe hunger remained nearly unchanged, decreasing slightly from 3.9 percent to 3.6 percent.

In Metro Manila, moderate hunger dropped from 19.7 percent to 14.3 percent, while severe hunger was nearly unchanged at 6 percent. 

In Balance Luzon, moderate hunger declined from 16.5 percent to 13.9 percent, and severe hunger decreased from 4 percent to 3.1 percent.

Meanwhile, moderate hunger in the Visayas increased from 11.7 percent to 18.3 percent, while severe hunger declined from 2.7 percent to 1.3 percent. 

In Mindanao, both moderate and severe hunger rose, from 13.7 percent to 21.3 percent and from 3.7 percent to 5 percent, respectively.

The First Quarter 2025 Social Weather Survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults nationwide (600 in Balance Luzon and 300 each in Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao). 

The sampling error margins are ±3 percent for national figures, ±4 percent for Balance Luzon, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.