Hunger worse than pandemic levels
More Filipino families went hungry in September, surpassing the average recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, as more households struggled to put food on the table, according to a Social Weather Stations survey released Wednesday.
The 21 to 27 September survey found that 22.6 percent of families experienced involuntary hunger — being hungry and having nothing to eat — at least once in the previous three months, up 2.3 percentage points from the 20.3 percent in June.
The latest figure was 2.4 percentage points higher than the 20.2 percent average in 2025 and 1.5 points above the 21.1 percent average recorded in 2020, when the country was grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The increase came as self-rated poverty and food poverty also worsened, with more than half of Filipino families considering themselves poor and 44 percent identifying themselves as food-poor.
The survey found that 55 percent of families rated themselves poor in September, up six percentage points from June, while those who considered themselves food-poor rose by eight points to 44 percent.
Hunger increased alongside these measures, with the rate among self-rated poor families rising to 27.9 percent from 24.5 percent in June. Among food-poor families, hunger climbed to 33.2 percent from 29.9 percent.
In contrast, hunger remained virtually unchanged among families that rated themselves as not poor or borderline poor, at 16.1 percent from 16.2 percent. It also declined slightly among food-not-poor or food-borderline families, to 14.3 percent from 14.7 percent.
SWS linked the rise in hunger to increasing self-rated poverty and food poverty, along with a higher incidence of hunger among poor and food-poor households.
Rise in severe hunger
The national hunger rate consisted of 16.2 percent of families experiencing moderate hunger and 6.4 percent experiencing severe hunger.
Moderate hunger refers to families that experienced hunger only once or a few times in the previous three months, while severe hunger covers those who experienced it often or always.
Compared with June, moderate hunger rose by 0.4 percentage points to 16.2 percent from 15.8 percent, while severe hunger climbed by 1.9 points to 6.4 percent from 4.5 percent.
The sharper increase in severe hunger indicated that more families reported experiencing hunger frequently or persistently, rather than only occasionally.
Hunger highest in metro
Metro Manila recorded the highest incidence of hunger in September at 27 percent, overtaking the other major regions, followed by Mindanao at 23.7 percent, Luzon at 23.6 percent, and the Visayas at 16 percent.
Hunger in the National Capital Region rose by six percentage points to 21 percent in June, while Luzon recorded a 6.3-point increase to 17.3 percent.
In Luzon, moderate hunger increased to 16.3 percent from 13 percent, while severe hunger climbed to 7.3 percent from 4.3 percent.
In Metro Manila, moderate hunger rose to 18.7 percent from 12.7 percent, while severe hunger remained at 8.3 percent.
The Visayas was the only region to register a substantial decline in overall hunger, which fell by 6.3 percentage points to 16 percent from 22.3 percent. Moderate hunger in the region dropped to 12 percent from 18.7 percent, although severe hunger edged up to 4 percent from 3.7 percent.
Mindanao’s overall hunger rate remained statistically steady at 23.7 percent, compared with 24 percent in June. However, moderate hunger declined to 18 percent from 20.7 percent, while severe hunger increased to 5.7 percent from 3.3 percent.