MANILA, Philippines — Forty-six percent of Filipinos are optimistic that their lives will improve over the next 12 months, a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations suggested.
SWS’ June poll, the last under the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, found 46% of adult Filipinos saying they believe their quality of life will improve and 40% saying it will stay the same.
Four percent of the 1,200 respondents said it will worsen over the next 12 months. The remaining 11% did not give an answer.
The net personal optimism score was +42, classified by SWS as “excellent.”
“The June 2022 net personal optimism score is 3 points above the very high +39 in April 2022. It is similar to the excellent +42 in December 2021, and just 2 points below the pre-pandemic level of excellent +44 in December 2019,” the pollster said.
SWS noted that net personal optimism score was negative only 11 times since the survey on quality-of-life change was fielded in 1984, reaching a historic low of -19 in May 2020 amid the implement of pandemic lockdowns.
“It has since trended back upwards but still has not reached pre-pandemic levels,” the polling firm added.
Rise in all areas except Metro Manila
SWS attributed the three-point rise in the national net optimism score to the increases in Mindanao, Visayas, and areas in Luzon outside Metro Manila, combined with a steady score in the capital region.
The survey showed that net personal optimism was “excellent” among college graduates and junior high school graduates, “very high” among elementary graduates, and “high” among non-elementary graduates.
It also found that net personal optimism was higher among non-hungry families and households who rated themselves as not poor.
The survey was conducted from June 26 to 29 using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults nationwide. It had sampling error margins of ±2.5% for national percentages, ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao, and ±4.0% for Balance Luzon. — Gaea Katreena Cabico