The number of Filipinos who have experienced hunger and had no food at least once in the past three months has increased, according to a new survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Stratbase.
The survey conducted on March 15-20 showed that 27.2% of Filipino families or 7.5 million households experienced involuntary hunger.
This is the highest recorded hunger since the pandemic of September 2020, when it reached 30.7%. This is 7 points higher than the average hunger rate in 2024 of 20.2%.
Highest in the Visayas
The increase in the hunger rate is due to the increase in hunger in Visayas, Luzon (excluding Metro Manila), and Mindanao, while the data in Metro Manila remained the same.
Visayas – 33.7% (highest)
Metro Manila – 28.3%
Mindanao – 27.3%
Luzon (except Metro Manila) – 24%
Of the 27.2% who experienced hunger, 21% had "moderate hunger" (experienced once or a few times), while 6.2% had "severe hunger" (often or always hungry).
In the Visayas, moderate hunger increased from 15.3% to 27.7%, while severe hunger slightly increased from 4.7% to 6%.
The survey was conducted among 1,800 registered voters using face-to-face interviews and has a margin of error of ±2.31% nationwide.
