Friday, January 06, 2006

Survey: Hunger hits record high in the Philippines

Philippine Star
MANILA (AP) - The number of Filipinos who said they went hungry rose to a record high with nearly 17 percent of people surveyed saying they had nothing to eat at least once over a three-month period, a survey group said Friday.

Of the Filipino households queried, 16.7 percent reported experiencing hunger in the last quarter of 2005, the independent Social Weather Stations survey group said -- a record high since it began hunger surveys in mid-1998.

The survey also found those describing themselves as living in poverty rose to 57 percent from 49 percent in the previous quarter.

The SWS said the proportional figure, or an estimated 2.8 million families, surpassed the previous peak of 16.1 percent in March 2001. The proportion of people going hungry has been in the double-digits ever since the second quarter of 2004.