Polls on state of happiness and wellbeing in Philippines

Despite the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, 55% of Filipino adults say there will be no difference in how their families will celebrate the Christmas season this year, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

The same poll shows that 91% of Filipino adults have a positive attitude for the year ahead.

The survey was conducted from November 23 to December 2 using face-to-face interviews among 2,400 respondents aged 18 years old and above. It has an error margin of ± 2% at the 95% confidence level.

About 83% of Filipinos said their quality of life got worse ("losers") in the past year, according to a Social Weather Stations mobile survey released Thursday.

The poll found that 10% said their quality of life was the same ("unchanged") while only 6% said it got better ("gainers") compared to a year ago.

The mobile survey was conducted from May 4-10, 2020 using mobile phone interviews among 4,010 working-age Filipinos (15+ year-old) nationwide. 

The happiness and satisfaction with life scores of Filipinos in Q4 of 2018 fell to their lowest levels since 2014, the Social Weather Stations says Sunday as it released its latest poll.

The survey, conducted from December 16-19, 2018, found 87 percent of respondents assessing their life in general as "very/fairly happy." This is a seven-point decline from the record-high 94 percent in December 2017.

This is also the lowest score in four years, since the 85 percent in December 2014.

Meanwhile, the survey also found 82 percent of Filipinos "very/fairly satisfied" with the lives they lead, the lowest since the 79 percent in September 2014.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide: 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. It has a sampling error margins of ±2.6 percent for national percentages, and ±5 percent each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

A new Social Weather Stations survey released Thursday finds that 75 percent of Filipinos say the country is in the right direction as opposed to the 22 percent who thinks otherwise.

The September 2018 proportion of those who believe the country is in the right direction is five points above the 70 percent in June 2018.

The SWS poll adds that the belief that the country is in the right direction rose in all areas and was highest in Mindanao at 89 percent. It is followed by Balance Luzon at 73 percent, the Visayas at 69 percent and Metro Manila at 65 percent.

The survey was conducted from September 15-23, 2018 using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults nationwide.

Fifty-one percent of Filipinos who use the internet to access their social media accounts say they have changed their views concerning politics and government at least once because of something they had seen, read or listened to online, latest Pulse Asia survey shows.

The survey says nearly half (47%) of Filipinos use the internet, with nearly all (94%) of them using their mobile phones to access it. Practically all (98%) Filipinos who access the internet do so to check on their social media accounts. 

The poll was conducted on Sept. 1–7, 2018 using face-to-face interviews with 1,800 adults.

Meanwhile, awareness of fake news on social media is reported by majorities (88%) of those who access social media accounts through the internet.

The latest poll of the Social Weather Stations on self-rated poverty finds that 52 percent of Filipino families or roughly 12.2 million households consider themselves as poor. This is four points above the 48 percent or an estimated 11.1 million families in June 2018 and is the highest since the similar 52 percent in December 2014.

The poll was conducted from September 15-23, 2018 using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults nationwide.

The Philippines ranks in the upper half of the research firm Gallup’s 2018 Global Law and Order report, which gauges people’s sense of personal security and experience with crime and law enforcement.

The Gallup report assigns the Philippines a score of 82, similar to its score last year.

The country is at par with Croatia, Poland, Israel, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Serbia, Australia, South Korea, Romania, Iran and Sri Lanka.

Singapore once again tops the list.

The Philippines remains one of the least peaceful countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index 2018. 

Of the 163 countries on the list, the Philippines ranks 137—one notch higher from its ranking in 2017. 

The country is still the second least peaceful country in the Asia-Pacific region, following North Korea. 

GPI says the score of the Philippines suffered badly due to the ongoing anti-narcotics crackdown and the five-month battle between government forces and Islamic militant who took over Marawi City last year. 

Latest Social Weather Survey poll shows a rise in adult joblessness at 23.9 percent, translating to roughly 10.9 million adults.

The survey was done on March 23-27, 2018. The March 2018 poll result is 8.2 points above the 15.7 percent, or an estimated 7.2 million adults, in December 2017. It is the highest since the 25.1 percent in December 2016.

Meanwhile, optimism that there will be more jobs decreased by 4 points from 53 percent in December 2017 to 49 percent in March 2018, while pessimism that there will be fewer jobs remained at 12 percent.

Philippines 71st happiest country in the world

The Philippines is the 71st happiest country in the world, according to the 2018 World Happiness Report. The country is up one spot from its 2017 ranking at 72nd.

The report also says the Philippines is the 10th country with the highest levels of positive affect. It explains that positive affect is measured as the simple average of the following five "day-before" dichotomous variables:

• Smile or laugh yesterday
• Learn something
• Treated with respect
• Experienced enjoyment
• Feel well-rested

Negative affect, meanwhile, is measured as the simple average of the following five "day-before" dichotomous variables:

• Experienced worry
• Sadness
• Anger
• Stress
• Depression.

Both positive and negative affect are measured on a 0 to 1 scale. The Top 15 countries in positive affect are:

1. Paraguay
2. Panama
3. Costa Rica
4. Venezuela
5. El Salvador
6. Guatemala
7. Colombia
8. Ecuador
9. Canada
10. Philippines
11. Iceland
12. Denmark
13. Honduras
14. Norway
15. Nicaragua

The World Happiness Report is produced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Fifty-nine percent of Pinoys choose their career over love life, according to the latest Social Weather Stations poll.

Full story here: Love life or career? More Filipinos choose the latter