FILIPINO families that went hungry in the last three months of the Duterte administration fell to 11.6% from 12.2% a year earlier, according to a poll by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
This was equivalent to 2.9 million people, the pollster said in a statement on Sunday.
The hunger rate in June was 0.6 point lower than 12.2% in April and 0.2 point lower than 11.8% in December 2021, it said.
However, it was 1.6 points higher than 10% in September 2021 and 2.3 points higher than the pre-pandemic annual average of 9.3% in 2019, it added.
The hunger incidence was the highest in Metro Manila at 14.7% of families, followed by Mindanao at 14%, Luzon areas outside Metro Manila at 11.9% and the Visayas at 5.7%.
“It has been the highest in Metro Manila in 24 out of 98 surveys since July 1998,” SWS said.
“The 0.6-point decline in overall hunger between April and June was due to declines in Metro Manila and the Visayas, combined with increases in Mindanao and balance Luzon,” it added.
SWS interviewed 1,500 respondents on Jun. 26 to 29 for the poll, which had an error margin of ±2.5 points. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza