MANILA — Fewer Filipinos reported experiencing involuntary hunger over the past three months, according to the Second Quarter 2025 Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The national survey, conducted from June 25 to June 29, 2025, found that 16.1 percent of Filipinos experienced involuntary hunger, which SWS defines as being hungry and having nothing to eat at least once in the past three months.
This marks a 3.9-point decrease from the 20 percent recorded in the April 23 to April 28 survey, continuing a decline from a record-high 27.2 percent in March to 19.1 percent from the April 11 to April 15 poll.
According to SWS, the 16.1 percent hunger rate was the sum of 12.8 percent who experienced “Moderate Hunger,” or those who went hungry “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months, and 3.3 percent who experienced “Severe Hunger,” or those who went hungry “often” or “always” during the same period.
Compared to the April 23 to April 28 survey, Moderate Hunger dropped from 16.4 percent to 12.8 percent, while Severe Hunger slightly decreased from 3.6 percent to 3.3 percent.
The overall decline in hunger was due to a significant drop in Mindanao, where hunger fell sharply from 26.3 percent on April 23 to April 28 to just 9.7 percent in June. In Luzon outside Metro Manila, hunger also declined slightly, from 17 percent to 15.3 percent.
However, the hunger rate in Metro Manila rose slightly from 20.3 percent to 21.7 percent, while the Visayas also recorded an increase, from 19.7 percent to 21.7 percent.
Moderate Hunger, on the other hand, declined significantly in Mindanao from 21.3 percent to seven percent. It also fell in Visayas from 18.3 percent to 17 percent and slightly in Luzon outside Metro Manila from 13.9 percent to 13 percent. Meanwhile, Metro Manila saw a rise, from 14.3 percent to 16 percent.
Moderate across all regions
Severe Hunger also declined in Mindanao, from five percent to 2.7 percent, while it remained relatively stable in other regions, with Metro Manila showing a minimal decrease from six percent to 5.7 percent, Luzon outside Metro Manila from 3.1 percent to 2.3 percent. Visayas, on the other hand, registered an increase from 1.4 percent to 4.7 percent.
The SWS survey also found that hunger incidence declined among both the Poor and Non-Poor. Among the Self-Rated Poor, the total hunger rate (Moderate plus Severe) dropped from 25.9 percent in the April 23 to April 28 survey to 21 percent in June. Among the Non-Poor—which includes those who identify as Not Poor or Borderline Poor—hunger fell from 14.1 percent to 11.4 percent.
Those who identified as Self-Rated Food-Poor, on the other hand, the hunger rate declined from 28.4 percent to 21.3 percent. For the Non-Food-Poor group, which includes those who consider themselves Not Food-Poor or Borderline Food-Poor, hunger fell from 14.1 percent to 12.4 percent.
SWS noted that hunger occurs at different rates among the Poor and the Non-Poor. At any single point in time, hunger is usually higher among the Poor. From quarter to quarter, however, the hunger rates among the poor and the non-poor may change, either upward or downward. Hunger is highest among the food-poor.
The SWS survey used face-to-face interviews among 1,200 adults. It had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points for the national percentages and plus-or-minus 6 percentage points each for Metro Manila, Luzon outside Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
