By Brian Jules Campued
Do you expect your life to be better in the next 12 months or will it stay the same? Or do you think it will get worse?
Survey results from the Social Weather Stations (SWS) released Sunday showed that 4 out of 10 Filipinos believe their life to improve, while another 4 think it would not change in the next 12 months.
According to the survey conducted in March 21-25, about 7% said their life would worsen. The remaining 6% did not give an answer.
SWS noted that the March 2024 Net Personal Optimism score of +37 or “very high” was similar to the +39 score in the December 2023 poll.
Net Personal Optimism score is computed by subtracting the total percentage of “pessimists” from the “optimists”.
SWS attributed the two-point drop in national net optimism score to a sharp decline in Mindanao and slight decrease in Metro Manila and Visayas. Only Balance Luzon (Luzon outside Metro Manila) posted a slight increase during the first quarter of 2024.
Although still classified as “very high”, the Net Personal Optimism score in Mindanao went down by 11 points from the “excellent” +43 in December 2023 to +32 in March 2024.
Similarly, Metro Manila stayed “excellent” despite decreasing by five points from +47 to +42, while Visayas remained “high” after a three-point drop from +27 to +24.
Balance Luzon, on the contrary, rose to +44 (“excellent”) in the first quarter from +40 in the previous quarter.
How about life in the previous 12 months?
In the same survey, 45% of adult Filipinos said their quality of life stayed the same (“unchanged”) compared to a year before. About 30% answered that life got better (“gainers”), while 25% said it got worse (“losers”).
SWS noted a higher net optimism score among “gainers” (“excellent”, +68) compared to those “unchanged” (“very high”, +31) and “losers” (“fair”, +11).
“Compared to December 2023, Net Personal Optimism rose by six points from +62 among Gainers. However, it fell by two points from +33 among the Unchanged and by 12 points from +23 among Losers,” the pollster said.
Self-rated poor
SWS also found that 46% of Filipino families rated themselves as poor, while 30% as borderline, and 23% as not poor.
Notably, the Net Personal Optimism score among “not poor” and “borderline” families were at “excellent” +49 and +43, respectively. “Poor” families recorded a net optimism score of “high” +28.
“Compared to December 2023, Net Personal Optimism rose slightly from +47 among those from Not Poor families, while it hardly moved from +44 among those from Borderline families. However, it fell by 5 points from +33 among those from Poor families,” SWS said.
The first quarter survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults aged 18 years old and above nationwide. Of the said number, 600 came from Balance Luzon and 300 each from Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. – iro
