Filipino families who went hungry in the last three months of 2016 numbered 3.1 million, equivalent to a rate of 13.9 percent, slightly up from the preceding quarter and during the same period in 2015, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) report showed.

The survey, conducted from Dec. 3-6, found 13.9 percent of the respondents, or an estimated 3.1 million families, saying they experienced hunger in the last three months, from 10.6 percent or 2.4 million families in September 2016 and 11.7 percent or 2.6 million in December 2015.

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Average hunger for 2016 was 13.3 percent, almost unchanged from 2015’s 13.4 percent, although lowest since 2004’s average of 11.8 percent.

The SWS used face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults nationwide. The SWS asked the respondents in Filipino: “In the last three months, did it happen even once that your family experienced hunger and did not have anything to eat?” Those who answered in the affirmative were further asked: “Did it happen ‘only once,’ ‘a few times,’ ‘often’ or ‘always?’”

The SWS classified experiencing hunger “only once” or “a few times” as “moderate hunger,” while going hungry “often” or “always” was rated as “severe hunger.”

Those who said they experienced “moderate hunger” was 10.9 percent in December from 9.1 percent in September while those who claimed they experienced “severe hunger” was 3 percent from 1.5 percent.

Overall hunger was 13 percent in Metro Manila in December from 7.3 percent; 15 percent from 11.7 percent in Luzon; 16.7 percent from 13 percent in the Visayas; and 10 percent from 8.3 percent in Mindanao. —INQUIRER RESEARCH

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