47% of Filipinos optimistic quality of life to improve in a year: SWS

By Filane Mikee Cervantes, Philippine News Agency

FILE: The Manila Bay sunset, as seen from Roxas Boulevard on Saturday (April 27, 2024), remains a favorite attraction. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA – Nearly half of adult Filipinos expect their quality of life to improve over the next 12 months, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released Thursday.

The survey, conducted from Sept. 14 to 23, found that 47 percent of respondents believe their quality of life will get better, while 40 percent said it will remain the same, and 5 percent anticipated it to worsen.

The remaining 8 percent did not provide an answer.

The net personal optimism score was +42, classified as “excellent” by SWS.

The September net personal optimism score is similar to the excellent +41 recorded in June, showing a slight upward trend from +37 in March.

The stability of the national score was due to slight increases in Metro Manila and the Visayas, combined with a slight decrease in Mindanao and a steady score in Balance Luzon.

For Metro Manila, net personal optimism rose 5 points from +40 in June to +45 in September.

Balance Luzon saw a slight dip from +49 to +48 but remained “excellent.”

The Visayas experienced a 4-point increase from high to very high, moving from +27 to +31.

In Mindanao, the score dropped 2 points but stayed at a very high +37.

Among college graduates, net personal optimism was excellent at +47, down from +50 in June.

It stayed at excellent +43 among those who finished junior high school, had some vocational schooling, had some senior high school, finished senior high school, completed vocational school, or attended college.

The score among elementary graduates rose slightly to +41, shifting from very high to excellent.

For respondents with little or no formal education, the score remained very high, inching up from +34 to +35.

The survey showed that optimism was higher among those whose quality of life had improved over the past year, known as “gainers,” who had a net personal optimism score of +60.

Those whose situation was unchanged had a net personal optimism score of +37, while those who reported a decline in their quality of life scored +20.

Adults from families who considered themselves “not poor” had an excellent net personal optimism rating of +48, while those who viewed themselves as “borderline” had a score of +47.

The adults belonging to families who consider themselves poor recorded a “very high” net personal optimism score of +38.

The survey was done using face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults nationwide. It had sampling error margins of ±2.5 percent for national percentages.