According to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, conducted from September 24 to 30, 2025, the percentage of Filipino families who experienced involuntary hunger rose to 22% in the past three months. This is a 5.9-point increase from 16.1% in June 2025 and a 2-point rise from 20% in April. The 2025 average hunger rate of 20.2% matches last year's figure and is just 0.9 points lower than the record-high 21.1% average in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hunger increased across all regions except the Visayas. Metro Manila posted the highest hunger rate at 25.7%, followed by Balance Luzon (23.8%), Mindanao (19.7%), and the Visayas (18.7%). Of the total, 16% of families experienced moderate hunger (those who were hungry 'only once' or 'a few times' in the last three months) while 5.2% experienced severe hunger (meaning they went hungry 'often' or 'always'). Compared to June 2025, moderate hunger rose by 3.9 points, and severe hunger by 1.9 points. The survey also revealed that 41% of Filipino families considered themselves food-poor, 11% were food-borderline, and 47% said they were not food-poor. In a separate self-rated poverty survey, 50% of families identified as poor. SWS noted: 'Hunger occurs at different rates among the poor and non-poor.' Among self-rated poor families, hunger rose from 21.0% in June to 26.9% in September, while among non-poor families, it increased from 11.4% to 17.0%. Among food-poor families, hunger jumped from 21.3% to 31.5%, while among non-food-poor families, including those who are borderline, it climbed from 12.4% to 15.3%. The September 2025 survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults and had a sampling error margin of ±3% nationally, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±6% for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
