Poverty, hunger down in Q3 – OCTA poll

CEBU, Philippines — Contrary to the results of the recent Social Weather Stations (SWS), self-rated poverty and hunger went down in the third quarter survey conducted by the OCTA Research group.

The OCTA survey, conducted from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2, saw a decline in self-rated poverty from 48 percent in June to 43 percent. Self-rated hunger also went down from 16 percent in June to 11 percent in September

The results are different from the third quarter SWS poll, conducted from Sept. 14 to 23, which saw a one-point increase in self-rated poverty, from 58 percent in June to 59 percent. It matched the 59 percent obtained in June 2008.

The SWS survey also saw an increase in self-rated hunger, from 17.6 percent in June to 22.9 percent in September. It was the highest since the record-high 30.7 percent obtained in September 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to OCTA, the drop in self-rated poverty and hunger was due to significant decreases among respondents in balance Luzon and Mindanao.

Self-rated poverty is still the highest among those in Mindanao at 60 percent (from 77 percent), followed by those in the Visayas at 59 percent (from 52 percent), Metro Manila at 35 percent (from 28 percent) and rest of Luzon at 30 percent (from 37 percent).

For self-rated hunger, it was highest among those in the Visayas at 20 percent (same as in June survey), followed by those in Mindanao and Metro Manila at 11 percent (from 25 percent and 12 percent, respectively) and the rest of Luzon at seven percent (from 11 percent).

The respondents were asked if their family experienced involuntary hunger or not going without anything to eat at least once in the last three months prior to the survey.

OCTA said the latest self-rated poverty and hunger translate to about 11.3 million and 2.9 million Filipino families, respectively.

OCTA’s survey had 1,200 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus three percent, while the SWS poll had 1,500 respondents and a margin of error of plus/minus 2.5 percent. — (FREEMAN)