Number of hungry Filipinos goes up
About 2.6 million families or 15.5 per cent of the population have been experiencing hunger from June to August this year, according to the survey done by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on 1,200 respondents from August 26 to September 5.
About 2.6 million families or 15.5 per cent of the population have been experiencing hunger from June to August this year, according to the survey done by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on 1,200 respondents from August 26 to September 5.
The figure is higher than the 12 per cent rate of hungry Filipino families from April to May. It shows the second highest percentage since the SWS began a survey on hungry Filipinos in 1998, said the SWS, adding the record was 16.1 per cent in March 2001.
The proportion of the hungry has been at double-digits for six successive quarters, from 1998 to 2005.
The SWS said that 2.6 per cent or 400,000 families have experienced severe hunger in August, in comparison with 12.9 per cent or 2.1 million families who experienced moderate hunger for the same period.
The study said a family now needs P12,000 ($785) a month in Metro Manila to escape poverty, compared to P10,000 in May.
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