Photo by Jörg Dietze (WIKICOMMONS)
The country’s record-high hunger rate of 30.7 percent in September was halved to 16 percent in November, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) found in its most recent survey.
According to the SWS, the number of hungry Filipino families dipped from 7.6 million hungry families in September to 4.0 million in November.
“Nevertheless, it is double the pre-pandemic 8.8% (est. 2.1 million families) of families in December 2019,” the pollster noted.
The average hunger rate for the entire 2020 hit a new record-high of 21.1 percent of families, surpassing the previous record of 19.9 percent tallied in 2011 and 2012.
This year’s hunger rate was almost double 2019’s 9.3 percent.
Malacañang acknowledged the lower hunger rate in November but said the numbers could see another uptick if Filipinos became complacent.
“Iyong pagbawas po ng kalahati sa hunger rate, ito po ay resulta ng paunti-unti nating pagbubukas ng ating ekonomiya,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said. John Ezekiel J. Hirro