HUNGER among Filipinos has risen nationwide, from 17.5 percent in September to 18.9 percent in October, after the onslaught of storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng,” according to a special survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations.
The October figure represents about 3.5 million families, with the increase recorded mainly in Luzon outside Metro Manila, according to the research organization.
The SWS said the 1.3 point rise in overall hunger resulted from a 0.5-point increase in “moderate hunger” and a 0.8 point increase in “severe hunger.”
Moderate hunger, which refers to those who experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months, rose from 14.5 percent in September to 15 percent in October. Severe hunger, or hunger experienced “often” or “always” in the last three months, increased from 3 percent to 3.8 percent.
The survey of 1,200 adults from Oct. 24 to 27, 2009 has sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages.
