Fewer Pinoys see quality of life improving – SWS

MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos who expect the quality of their lives to improve in the next 12 months has dropped in the latest survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

Results of the March 26 to 29 survey released yesterday found that 45 percent of the respondents expect a better quality of life within a year, down from the 49 percent obtained in a similar survey conducted in December.

Meanwhile, the number of those who expected their lives to worsen in the next 12 months increased by a point from five percent to six percent.

Some 42 percent said it would stay the same, up from 37 percent, while the remaining seven percent said they do not know, down from eight percent.

Correctly rounded, the latest survey resulted in a “net personal optimism” score of +38, classified as “very high” by the polling firm. It was down six points from the “excellent” +44 obtained in the December 2022 survey.

The “net personal optimism” score is obtained by subtracting those who said their lives will worsen from those who said their lives will 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 while 43 percent saying it will worsen in the next 12 months.

It has since recovered and reached the pre-pandemic level of +44 last December. The record-high net personal optimism score was +46 recorded in June 2016 and December 2017.

According to SWS, the six-point decrease in the national net personal optimism score was due to decreases in all areas.

It stayed “excellent” among respondents in Mindanao (+47, from +48) and Metro Manila (+45, from +49), while it dropped to “very high” among respondents in rest of Luzon (+37, from +43) and the Visayas (+27, from +37).

The polling firm said net optimism also decreased across respondents based on their educational attainment. Optimism for a better life was also higher among those who said their lives improved in the past 12 months and those who rated themselves as “not poor.”

The survey had 1,200 adult respondents and a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent for national percentages.