Amid the improving inflation in the past months, 22.9 percent of Filipinos still said they had experienced involuntary hunger in the third quarter, spiking more than 17 percent against the second quarter, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey, conducted on 14-23 September and released on Thursday, said Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger — being hungry and not having anything to eat — at least once in the past three months.

SWS said the September 2024 hunger figure was 5.3 points above the 17.6 percent in June 2024 and the highest since the record high of 30.7 percent during the Covid-19 lockdowns in September 2020.

Further, the September 2024 figures are 13.1 points above the September 2023 hunger figure after four straight quarterly increases.