Fewer Pinoys see quality of life improving – SWS

MANILA, Philippines — Fewer Filipinos expect the quality of their life to improve in the next 12 months, according to a recent survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey, conducted from Sept. 12 to 16 with results released Wednesday night, showed that only 33 percent of the 1,200 adult respondents expect a better quality of life within a year.

It was four points lower than the 37 percent obtained in a similar survey conducted in June.

Those who expect their lives to worsen in the next 12 months remained at seven percent, while 45 percent of respondents expect theirs to remain the same. The remaining 14 percent of the respondents did not give an answer.

The latest survey showed a “net optimism” score of +26, classified as “high” by the polling firm. It fell four points from the “very high” +30 obtained in June.

The “net optimism” score is obtained by subtracting the number of those who said their lives would worsen from those who said their lives would improve in the next 12 months.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country recorded its historic low net optimism score of -19 in May 2020, with 24 percent expecting their lives to improve in the next 12 months and 43 percent saying otherwise.

It slightly improved in July 2020 at -10 (26 percent optimist, 36 percent pessimist), followed by continued recovery in the succeeding surveys.

Compared to the most recent survey last June, the latest poll showed declines in the “net optimism” score in Metro Manila (+34 to +24) and the rest of Luzon (+38 to +28), while it increased in the Visayas (+15 to +18) and Mindanao (+24 to +30).

SWS also noted that optimism for a better life is higher among those who said their lives improved in the past 12 months compared to those whose lives worsened or remain unchanged.

Earlier, the survey firm said only 13 percent of the respondents in the September poll said their lives improved in the past year. Fifty-seven percent said it worsened, while 29 percent said it was the same. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent for national percentages.