Mindanao families feel the squeeze as hunger tops pandemic-era average on NewsLine Philippines - Building Information Highway for the Community
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (October 16) — Nearly two in three families in Mindanao consider themselves poor, while more than half say their households are food-poor, underscoring the region’s persistent struggle to meet basic needs as hunger across the Philippines climbs above its 2020 pandemic-era average.
The latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found that 64% of families in Mindanao rated themselves as poor in September, up from 61% in June. The region also recorded the country’s highest self-rated food poverty at 52%, up from 45% over the same period.
Nationwide, involuntary hunger rose to 22.6% of Filipino families in September, a 2.3-percentage-point increase from 20.3% in June. The September figure exceeded the 21.1% average recorded in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 20.2% average for 2025.
The survey, conducted from September 21 to 27 among 1,500 adults nationwide, defined involuntary hunger as experiencing hunger and having nothing to eat at least once in the preceding three months.
Severe hunger rises in Mindanao
Although Mindanao’s overall hunger rate remained virtually unchanged at 23.7%, compared with 24% in June, the figures revealed a worrying shift toward more frequent hunger.
The proportion of families experiencing moderate hunger—going without food once or a few times in the preceding three months—fell from 20.7% to 18%.
But severe hunger, defined as going hungry often or always, climbed from 3.3% to 5.7%.
This increase suggests that a relatively stable overall hunger rate is masking worsening experiences among some households, with more families facing recurrent food deprivation.
Mindanao recorded the country’s second-highest reported hunger rate, behind Metro Manila’s 27% and just above the 23.6% recorded in Luzon outside the capital. Hunger in the Visayas fell to 16% from 22.3% in June.
SWS attributed the national increase primarily to sharp rises in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon, even as hunger eased in the Visayas and remained steady in Mindanao.
Poverty deepens nationwide
The deterioration in hunger indicators coincided with an increase in the number of Filipino families identifying themselves as poor.
SWS reported that nationwide self-rated poverty rose six percentage points to 55% in September from 49% in June. The survey firm estimated this was equivalent to 16.8 million families, up from 13.6 million three months earlier.
Self-rated food poverty also increased eight percentage points to 44% from 36%, equivalent to an estimated 13.3 million families in September.
Among families who considered themselves poor, hunger rose to 27.9% from 24.5%. Among those who identified themselves as food-poor, the incidence climbed to 33.2% from 29.9%.
SWS said the rise in national hunger reflected both the growing number of families identifying themselves as poor and food-poor and the worsening hunger experienced within those groups.
Relief must reach households struggling to eat
The findings put renewed focus on whether government efforts to reduce poverty are translating into more affordable food and more secure household livelihoods.
For Mindanao, where 64% of surveyed families rated themselves as poor and 52% as food-poor, the figures underscore the scale of household economic insecurity. The increase in severe hunger also raises concern about families for whom food deprivation is no longer an occasional experience.
The survey measures how families perceive their economic conditions; it is not an official income-poverty count. Nevertheless, these perceptions offer an important signal of how households are coping with the cost of meeting basic needs.
National and local governments need to track whether food assistance and livelihood programs are reaching the families most at risk, while addressing the affordability of essential food and the instability of household incomes. In Mindanao, monitoring severe hunger—not just the overall hunger rate—will be particularly important in determining whether vulnerable families are becoming better able to feed themselves.
The immediate test of anti-poverty efforts is not simply whether headline economic indicators improve, but whether families can consistently put food on the table without sinking further into deprivation.
The post Mindanao families feel the squeeze as hunger tops pandemic-era average appeared first on NewsLine Philippines.
Mindanao families feel the squeeze as hunger tops pandemic-era average
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