48% of Filipinos expect life improvement in next 12 months: SWS

The Dec. 13 to 16 poll found that 48 percent of adult Filipinos are “optimists” about their life improvement, while only four percent were “pessimists” who expect their life to get worse in the next 12 months. (Photo by Leif Inge Fosen on Unsplash)

MANILA – Many Filipinos have expressed optimism that their life will improve in the next 12 months, according to the latest poll released by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on Wednesday.

The Dec. 13 to 16 poll found that 48 percent of adult Filipinos are “optimists” about their life improvement, while only four percent were “pessimists” who expect their life to get worse in the next 12 months.

The poll results yielded a net personal optimism score of “excellent” +44, up by three points from September 2019’s “excellent” +41, SWS noted.

The three-point rise in the national net personal optimism score in December 2019 was due to increases of seven points in Balance Luzon (“excellent” +47 from “excellent” +40) and two points in the Visayas (“very high +34 from “very high” +32), combined with decreases of four points in Metro Manila (“excellent” +44 from “excellent” +48), and one point in Mindanao (“excellent” +45 from “excellent” +46).

SWS revealed that net personal optimism scores are “excellent” among college graduates (+56) and high school graduates (+48), and both “very high” +36 among elementary graduates and non-elementary graduates.

“Compared to September 2019, the net personal optimism score remained at +48 (excellent) for high school graduates, but rose from +51 (excellent) among college graduates, and from +31 (excellent) each among elementary graduates and elementary dropouts,” the pollster noted.

Optimism about improved PH economy ‘excellent’

The same survey also showed that 47 percent of adult Filipino are optimistic that the Philippine economy will improve in the next 12 months, while only nine percent were pessimists who believe the economy will worsen.

The poll results posted a net economic optimism score of “excellent” +38, up by 10 points from “excellent” +28 registered in September 2019.

The 10-point rise in the national net economic optimism score in December last year was driven by the increases of 14 points in Balance Luzon (“excellent” +37 from “excellent” +23), 10 points in the Visayas (“excellent” +33 from “excellent” +23), five points in Metro Manila (“excellent” +39 from “excellent” +34), and four points in Mindanao (“excellent” +44 from “excellent” +40).

Net economic optimism ratings are “excellent” among college graduates (+55), high school graduates (+40), elementary graduates (+32), and non-elementary graduates (+30).

“Compared to September 2019, the score fell from +32 (excellent) among elementary dropouts, but rose from +28 (excellent) among college graduates, +30 (excellent) among high school graduates, and +25 (excellent) points among elementary graduates,” SWS said.

Net gainers ‘very high’

The same poll also bared that 39% of adult Filipinos are “gainers” because their lives improved, while only 21 percent considered themselves “losers” because their lives worsened in the last 12 months.

The results gave net gainers score “very high” +18, higher by six points from September 2019’s “very high” +11.

SWS attributed the seven-point rise in the national net gainers rating to increases of 10 points in Balance Luzon (“very high” +18 from “high” +8), seven points in the Visayas (“very high” +14 from “high +7), four points in Metro Manila (“very high” +22 from “very high” +18), and one point in Mindanao (“very high” +16 from “very high” +15).

Net gainer scores were “excellent” among college graduates (+28) and high school graduates (+20), and “very high” +12 each among elementary graduates and non-elementary graduates.

“Net Gainers rose in all education groups from September 2019. The scores used to be +22 (excellent) among college graduates, +17 (very high) among high school graduates, +2 (high) among elementary graduates, and -1 (fair) among elementary school dropouts,” the pollster noted.

Around 1,200 respondents were interviewed in December last year, using sampling error margins of ±3 percentage points for national percentages, and ±6 percentage points each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.