THE proportion of families experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months has eased to 16 percent, or about three million families, down from over 20 percent in the past three quarters.
The latest hunger figure recorded by the Social Weather Stations in its third quarter Social Weather Survey this year is similar to the level of February 2009, and is 2 points above the 12-year average of 14 percent. Hunger has been at double-digits since June 2004, the research organization said.
The survey question specifies hunger due to lack of anything to eat, which in effect refers to involuntary suffering.
The September 2010 survey also found that 48 percent (9 million) families consider themselves as mahirap (poor), 2 points down from 50 percent in June, and 39 percent (7.1 million) consider themselves as food-poor, unchanged from the previous quarter.
The five-point decline in overall hunger between June and September 2010 resulted from a four-point decline in moderate hunger, combined with a one-point decline in severe hunger.
Moderate hunger, referring to those who experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months, declined from 17 percent in June to 13 percent in September.
Severe hunger, referring to those who experienced it “often” or “always” in the last three months, declined from 4.2 percent in June to 3 percent in September.
Overall hunger in Mindanao fell from 26 percent in June to 16.3 percent in September, and from 21 percent to 15.3 percent in the Visayas. It declined from 18.3 percent to 14.7 percent in the balance of Luzon, and from 22 percent in June to 20.3 percent in September in Metro Manila.
The self-rated poverty threshold, or the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in general, remains sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation. This indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, i.e., belt-tightening.
As of September 2010, the median poverty threshold for poor households is P10,000 in Metro Manila, P9,500 in balance Luzon, P6,000 in the Visayas, and P5,000 in Mindanao. These amounts have already been surpassed in the past in those areas.