Hunger at our doorstep: A call for united action

A national Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, conducted April 23-28, 2025, and released June 27, revealed that one in five Filipino families (or 20 percent of Filipino households) experienced involuntary hunger—defined as being hungry and having nothing to eat—at least once in the past three months.

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The survey results show that the hunger rate remained nearly unchanged from the 19.1 percent recorded in a survey fielded from April 11 to 15.

In March, a similar survey recorded 27.2 percent of households, or roughly 7.5 million families, suffering involuntary hunger—the highest rate since the Covid pandemic. Although today’s data shows a reduced number of hungry Filipinos, it is still a call for united action.

These are numbers that tell of daily heartbreaks. Hunger isn’t just a fleeting discomfort; it impacts childhood development, school performance, workforce productivity, and long-term health.

Multiple intertwined factors are driving this crisis, one of them persistent poverty. Figures from the Philippines Statistics Authority show that in 2023, poverty incidence in the rural areas was recorded at 22.1 percent, while in the urban areas, it was 10.2 percent.