More Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger in the first quarter of 2026, reaching its highest level in a year, based on a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Tuesday, May 12.

In a survey conducted from March 24 to 31, SWS found that 23.2 percent of families experienced involuntary hunger—defined as being hungry and having nothing to eat at least once in the past three months.

This is up by 3.1 percentage points from 20.1 percent in November 2025 and is the highest since 27.2 percent recorded in March 2025.

It is also above the 2025 average of 20.2 percent and the 2020 pandemic-era average of 21.1 percent.

The Visayas recorded the highest incidence at 28 percent, followed by Balance Luzon at 22.4 percent, Metro Manila at 22 percent, and Mindanao at 21.7 percent.

Compared with November 2025, hunger rose by 7.7 percentage points in the Visayas, 5.7 points in Balance Luzon, and 1.7 points in Metro Manila.

Mindanao was the only area that recorded a decline, down by five points.

SWS attributed the overall increase to both moderate and severe hunger cases.

Moderate hunger—defined as experiencing hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the past three months—rose to 17.7 percent from 15.6 percent.

Severe hunger—experienced “often” or “always”—slipped slightly to 5.5 percent from 4.5 percent.

In Metro Manila, moderate hunger rose to 15.3 percent from 14.0 percent, while severe hunger increased to 6.7 percent from 6.3 percent. In Balance Luzon, moderate hunger climbed to 16.6 percent from 12.7 percent, and severe hunger rose to 5.8 percent from 4.0 percent.

The Visayas posted the sharpest increases, with moderate hunger rising to 21.7 percent from 16.7 percent and severe hunger to 6.3 percent from 3.7 percent.

In contrast, Mindanao recorded declines, with moderate hunger falling to 18.0 percent from 21.7 percent and severe hunger easing to 3.7 percent from 5 percent.

The survey also found higher hunger rates among self-rated poor and food-poor families.

“Total hunger is usually higher among the poor, and hunger is highest among the food-poor,” SWS said in its report.

Total hunger among self-rated poor families slightly increased to 27.5 percent from 27 percent, while it rose more sharply among non-poor families (combined non-poor and borderline poor) to 18.5 percent from 13 percent.

Among self-rated food-poor families, total hunger increased to 32.6 percent from 30.4 percent.

It also rose among non-food-poor families to 16.4 percent from 13.4 percent.

SWS said 52 percent of families considered themselves poor, while 42 percent classified themselves as food-poor.

The First Quarter 2026 Social Weather Survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults nationwide.

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