At least 4.2 million Filipino families experienced hunger due to lack of food at least once in the past three months, according to the latest report released by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
Mindanao now has the highest incidence of hunger at 20.7 percent or estimated at 1.2 million families, followed by the Visayas at 16.3 percent (776,000 families), Balance Luzon at 15.7 percent (1.8 million families), and Metro Manila in 14.7 percent (496,000 families).
In November 2020, hunger in Metro Manila was at 23.3 percent, 16.0 percent in Mindanao, 14.4 percent in Balance Luzon, and 14.3 percent in the Visayas.
Of 1,200 household heads that the SWS polled from April 28 to May 2, about 16.8 percent said their families experienced involuntary hunger.
The 16.8 percent hunger rate in May 2021 is the sum of 14.1 percent or 3.6 million families who experienced moderate hunger and 2.7 percent or 674,000 families who experienced severe hunger.
Moderate hunger refers to that hunger experienced "only once" or "a few times" in the last three months. Meanwhile, severe hunger refers to those who experienced it "often" or "always" in the last three months.
The May 2021 hunger rate is 0.8 points above the 16 percent rate in November 2020. It is 4.3 points below the 2020 annual average of 21.1 percent, but still double the December 2019 pre-pandemic level of 8.8 percent or around 2.1 million families, the SWS said.
The May 2021 survey found 49 percent of families rating themselves as poor, 33 percent feeling borderline poor, and only 17 percent feeling not poor.
It also found 32 percent of families rating themselves as food-poor, 45 percent feeling borderline food-poor, and 23 percent feeling not food-poor.