The number of people who experienced having nothing to eat at least once in the past three months reached a record 2.8 million in March 2006, a survey last March 8-14 of the independent polling firm Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
SWS said the 16.9 per cent figure surpassed the old record of 16.7 per cent in December 2005. It also raised the 1998-2006 hunger-proportion average from 10.6 per cent to 10.8 per cent. The hunger rate dropped to a record low of 5.1 per cent in September 2003 but it has been at double digits since the second quarter of 2004.