Metro Manila, Philippines – The number of Filipino families who considered themselves poor and experienced involuntary hunger rose in the last quarter, a non-commissioned survey showed on Friday, Jan. 24.
Independent think tank OCTA Research said self-rated poverty jumped to 50% from 43% during the survey period in November.
This is equivalent to over 13.2 million families, higher than the over 11.3 million families in August.
The highest increase was in Balance Luzon and Mindanao with additional 13 and 9 percentage points, respectively.
“Under the current administration, 47% of adult Filipinos believe that the state of poverty in the country is the same as before. Meanwhile, 32% believe that the state of poverty in the country is worse than before,” OCTA Research said.
Self-rated hunger, meanwhile, soared to 16% from 11% during the third quarter.
The group said over 4.2 million families have experienced involuntary hunger, higher than the 2.9 million in August. OCTA Research defines involuntary hunger as people who do not “have anything to eat at least once in the last three months before the survey period.”
“About 32% of adult Filipinos believe that the state of hunger in the country has worsened. Furthermore, 47% believe it has remained unchanged, while 20% think that the state of hunger has improved,” the group said.
Meanwhile, 49% or around 12.9 million families consider themselves food poor, which the group described as “when individuals and households struggle to obtain a sufficient and healthful diet.” The data is higher than the 42% reported in August.
The survey was conducted among 1,200 adult respondents from Nov. 10 to 16, with a ±3% margin of error at a 95% confidence level.
NewsWatch Plus correspondent Lance Mejico contributed to this report
