On an individual scale, hunger occurs when a person consumes an insufficient amount of calories to sustain them, called malnourishment. When a person has an insufficient amount of the right kinds of foods to keep them healthy it is malnutrition. In most countries where hunger is a significant social and economic problem, both malnourishment and malnutrition are common. Poverty is the number one cause of hunger since it results in a lack of ability to buy food and pay for the expansion of agricultural programs.

Another definition of hunger involves the mental uncertainty of future access to food; in other words, not knowing where the next meal is coming from. The technical term for this phenomenon is food insecurity. Many organizations working to end hunger, such as Bread.org, seek to achieve the goal of global food security. The World Food Summit defined this as when “all people at all times have access to sufficient safe and nutritious food for an active and healthy life.”
The costs of hunger are far-reaching and have long-term negative impacts on populations. Those who suffer from hunger are more susceptible to illnesses. Children who face malnutrition during their first two years of life experience lifelong consequences. If nutritional needs are not met during this key window of roughly 1,000 days between conception and age two, stunted growth and learning impairments develop

Of the 16.8 percent, SWS said 14.1 percent (3.6 million families) experienced Moderate Hunger while 2.7 percent (674,000 families) experienced Severe Hunger.

Moderate Hunger refers to those who experienced hunger “Only Once” or “A Few Times” in the last three months. Severe Hunger refers to those who experienced it “Often” or “Always” in the last three months.

According to SWS, the current rate is 0.8 points above the 16.0 percent or estimated four million families in November 2020, while it is 4.3 points below the 2020 annual average of 21.1 percent.

This, however, is double the December 2019 pre-pandemic level of 8.8 percent or around 2.1 million families, said SWS.

The SWS survey also revealed that per area, Mindanao currently has the highest hunger rate at  20.7 percent (1.2 million families) in Mindanao.

It is followed by Visayas at 16.3 (776,000 families), Luzon at 15.7 percent (1.8 million families), and Metro Manila at 14.7 percent (496,000 families).

Meanwhile in November 2020, hunger was at 23.3 percent (780,000 families) in Metro Manila, 16 percent (909,000 families) in Mindanao, 14.4 percent (1.6 million families) in Luzon, and 14.3 percent  ( 674,000 families) in the Visayas, said SWS.

The First Quarter 2021 survey was conducted from April 28 to May 2, 2021, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide, said the SWS.

Three hundred families each in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao were interviewed.

The world is not on track to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030. If recent trends continue, the number of people affected by hunger would surpass 840 million by 2030.

According to the World Food Programme, 135 million suffer from acute hunger largely due to man-made conflicts, climate change and economic downturns. The COVID-19 pandemic could now double that number, putting an additional 130 million people at risk of suffering acute hunger by the end of 2020.

With more than a quarter of a billion people potentially at the brink of starvation, swift action needs to be taken to provide food and humanitarian relief to the most at-risk regions.

At the same time, a profound change of the global food and agriculture system is needed if we are to nourish the more than 690 million people who are hungry today – and the additional 2 billion people the world will have by 2050. Increasing agricultural productivity and sustainable food production are crucial to help alleviate the perils of hunger.