AN ESTIMATED 20 percent of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger, being hungry and having nothing to eat at least once in the past three months, according to the latest national survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
In a released report on Friday, June 27, 2025, while the April 23–28, 2025 survey shows a slight increase from 19.1 percent recorded earlier in April, the figure remains significantly lower than the 27.2 percent registered in March.
Still, the data highlights the persistent and uneven burden of hunger across the country, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The incidence of hunger surged to 26.3 percent in Mindanao, up from 17.3 percent, and rose to 19.7 percent in the Visayas from 14.3 percent. In contrast, hunger dropped in Metro Manila from 26.0 percent to 20.3 percent and in Balance Luzon (areas outside Metro Manila) from 20.5 percent to 17.0 percent.
SWS reported that the national hunger rate consists of 16.4 percent Moderate Hunger, those who experienced hunger “only once” or “a few times” — and 3.6 percent Severe Hunger, those who went hungry “often” or “always.”
The report underscores the vulnerability of poorer households.
Hunger among self-rated poor families slightly increased from 24.4 percent to 25.9 percent, while it also went up among non-poor families (including those who considered themselves borderline) from 13.4 percent to 14.1 percent.
Meanwhile, self-rated food-poor households reported a higher hunger incidence at 28.4 percent compared to 14.1 percent among those not considering themselves food-poor.
SWS noted that hunger trends vary each quarter and often remain consistently higher among economically disadvantaged groups.
The First Quarter 2025 Social Weather Survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adult respondents nationwide from April 23 to 28.
The sample included 600 respondents from Balance Luzon and 300 each from Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
The survey has sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent for Balance Luzon, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
Data were weighted using 2025 population projections from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The hunger-related questions have been asked in 153 SWS surveys since July 1998.
The survey was non-commissioned and conducted independently by SWS as a public service. (CDF)