MANILA, Philippines — Nine in 10 Filipinos are welcoming the New Year with hope rather than fear, according to the fourth quarter survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The survey, taken from Dec. 16 to 19, showed 92 percent of adult Filipinos, 18 years old and above, are entering 2019 with hope. Eight percent will welcome the New Year with fear.
Hope for the New Year fell four points from the record-high 96 percent in 2017, and is the same as the 92 percent registered in 2008, 2012 and 2015.
Those entering the New Year with fear increased by four points from four percent in 2017, the SWS said.
New Year hope fell by 16 points in the Visayas, from 95 percent in 2017 to a record-low 79 percent in 2018, surpassing the previous record low of 83 percent in 2000 and 2001.
It also dropped in Metro Manila, from 96 percent in 2017 to 94 percent in 2018; by a point in balance Luzon, from 97 percent in 2017 to 96 percent in 2018, and a point in Mindanao, from 95 percent in 2017 to 94 percent in 2018.
Compared to 2017, hopefulness for the New Year declined in all socio-economic classes, the pollster said.
It fell in class ABC, from 97 percent in 2017 to 90 percent in 2018. This was the lowest since the 88 percent in 2007.
It dropped in class D or the masa, from 96 percent in 2017 to 92 percent in 2018. This was similar to the 92 percent recorded in 2007, 2008 and 2015.
It fell by three points in class E, from a record-high 94 percent in 2017 to 91 percent in 2018.
According to SWS, hope for the New Year has always been high, starting at 87 percent in 2000. It was 88 percent in 2001, 95 percent in 2002, 90 percent in 2003, 81 percent in 2004 and 85 percent in 2005.
It ranged from 91 percent to 92 percent from 2006 to 2008, before falling to 89 percent in 2009. It recovered to 93 percent in 2010 and has since then been at 90 levels, reaching as high as 96 percent in 2017.
The SWS latest survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,440 adults nationwide.
The pollster said in Germany, where the survey question was originally asked by the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, 52 percent of Germans will enter 2019 with hope.
From 1991 to 2018, Germans’ hope for the New Year ranged from a low 31 percent to a high 58 percent.