Hunger down, but nearly 50% of Filipinos consider selves poor

MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos who experienced involuntary hunger over the past three months has dropped, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from June 20 to June 29.

The survey found that 20.3 percent of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger—or being hungry and having nothing to eat—at least once between April and June.

The figure was the sum of 15.8 percent who experienced moderate hunger and 4.5 percent who experienced severe hunger.

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The 20.3 percent was 2.9 percentage points down from the 23.2 percent recorded in the previous March survey, and 0.1 percentage points above the 20.2-percent average of 2025.

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READ: SWS: Hunger among Filipino families rises to 23.2% in March 2026

It was also 0.8 percentage points below the record-high 21.1-percent average at the height of the pandemic in 2020.

Highest in Mindanao

Moderate hunger refers to those who experienced hunger only once or a few times in the last three months, while severe hunger refers to those who experienced it often or always during the same period.

Compared to March, moderate hunger fell by 1.9 percentage points from 17.7 percent, while severe hunger fell one percentage point from 5.5 percent.

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The survey found that hunger was highest in Mindanao at 24 percent, up 2.3 percentage points from 21.7 percent in March. It was followed by the Visayas at 22.3 percent (down 5.7 percentage points from 28 percent), Metro Manila at 21 percent (down one percentage point from 22 percent in Metro Manila) and Luzon outside Metro Manila at 17.3 percent (down 5.1 percentage points from 22.4 percent).

Moderate hunger was highest in Mindanao at 20.7 percent, up from 18 percent in March. It was followed by the Visayas at 18.7 percent (down from 21.7 percent), Luzon outside Metro Manila at 13 percent (down from 16.6 percent) and Metro Manila at 12.7 percent (down from 15.3 percent).

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On the other hand, severe hunger was highest in Metro Manila at 8.3 percent (up from 6.7 percent), followed by Luzon outside Metro Manila at 4.3 percent (down from 5.8 percent), the Visayas at 3.7 percent (down from 6.3 percent), and Mindanao at 3.3 percent (down from 3.7 percent).

Self-rating

The June survey also found that 49 percent of Filipino families rated themselves as “mahirap” (poor) while 14 percent rated themselves as borderline (on a line dividing poor and not poor), and 37 percent rated themselves as “hindi mahirap” (not poor).

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Regarding self-rated food poverty, which is based on the type of food eaten by their families, the June survey found that 36 percent of families rated themselves as food poor, 15 percent rated themselves as food borderline (on the line between food poor and not food poor), and 49 percent rated themselves as not food poor. /cb