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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Pinoys go hungry as crisis hits RP: survey
MANILA -- A near record-high of households experienced hunger or had nothing to eat at least once in the last three months, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey for the third quarter of 2004 showed.
The survey, done from August 5 to 22, said the 15.1 percent of households that reported going hungry at least once from the period July to September was the second highest hunger rate reported by Filipino families.
The highest was in March 2001, at 16.1 percent, since the conduct of similar surveys in 1998.
While overall hunger (not having anything to eat only once) was at its second highest, moderate hunger (not having anything to eat a few times) was at its highest in six years at 11.8 percent.
Severe hunger (not having anything to eat often or always) was at 3.3 per cent.
In June 2004, overall hunger was at 13 percent, moderate hunger at 9.2 per cent, and severe hunger at 3.7 per cent.
In the recent survey, the number of those who reported going hungry at least once went up except in the Visayas.
Mindanao and Metro Manila posted record high levels at 23 percent and 15.7 percent.
Hungry families in Luzon were pegged at 11.3 per cent and in the Visayas at 13.3 percent.
The survey also showed that 53 percent of the 1,200 respondents rated themselves as "poor" even if they are tightening their belts.
The number used to be at 43 percent in June.
The poverty rates are a bit better than the 60 percent and up in previous months but SWS attributed this to belt-tightening.
Self-rated poverty was 59 percent in Mindanao, 55 percent in the Visayas, 54 percent in Luzon, and 41 percent in Metro Manila.
The SWS survey showed that prolonged economic hardship has caused households to implement belt tightening, lowering what they think is the monthly budget needed not to be poor.
Metro Manila has a median poverty threshold of P10,000 per month in August, although it already reached P15,000 per month before.
Median poverty thresholds in Luzon and the Visayas are at P6,000 and P4,000 respectively, although they were already as high as P10,000 before.
The Mindanao threshold is only P3,000, but was typically P5,000-6,000 before. (JMR)
(October 5, 2004 issue)
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