By Alexandria Dennise San Juan
A record-high percentage of Filipinos said that they are very happy and satisfied with life, the latest Social Weather Stations Survey said.
Based on the result of the survey conducted in December last year, it showed that a record-high 94 percent of adult Filipinos saying they are "very/fairly happy" with life in general, and also a record-high 92 percent are "very/fairly satisfied" with the lives they lead.
A family of three enjoys a late morning picnic at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City.
(LJ Pasion / MANILA BULLETIN)
With the 94% "very/fairly happy" with life, 57% of them are very happy, 37% fairly happy, 5% not very happy, and 1% said not at all happy.
This was four points higher than the 90% very/fairly happy in September 2017, and two points above the previous highest record of 92% in June 1996.
The 57% who rated themselves as "very happy" was also a record-high from the previous record of 46% in December 2016.
According to SWS, happiness (percent very happy and percent fairly happy) has always been high, starting at 85% when SWS first conducted the survey in July 1991, asking the question "If you were to consider your life in general these days, how happy or unhappy would you say you are on the whole?"
The lowest recorded percentage of happiness was 78% in March 2001.
Meanwhile, SWS also recorded a record-high 92% of Filipinos who said that they are "very/fairly satisfied with the lives they lead."
To the question, "On the whole, are you very satisfied, fairly satisfied, not very satisfied or not at all satisfied with the life you lead?," a record-high 56% answered very satisfied, 37% fairly satisfied, 6% not very satisfied, and 1% said not at all satisfied.
The overall percentage was four points higher the September 2017 score of 88%, and 2 points above the previous record of 90% in September 2016. It has been scoring at above 80s since September 2014.
SWS also noted that the proportion of those rating themselves as very satisfied was a record-high 57% in December 2017, 9 points above the previous record of 48% in June 2017.
In terms of places, the December 2017 survey results found that at least 9 out of 10 in all areas were happy: it was highest in Mindanao at 96% (63% very happy, 32% fairly happy), followed by Luzon at 95% (55% very happy, 40% fairly happy), Visayas at 94% (61% very happy, 33% fairly happy), Metro Manila at 90% (48% very happy, 43% fairly happy).
Unhappiness, on the other hand, was highest in Metro Manila at 10% (7% not very happy, 3% not at all happy), followed by Visayas at 6% (6% not very happy, 0.3% not at all happy), Luzon at 5% (5% not very happy, 1% not at all happy), and Mindanao at 4% (4% not very happy, zero percent not at all happy).
This was also somehow similar to those who are satisfied with life, with the highest score in Luzon at 94% (54% very satisfied, 40% fairly satisfied), followed by Metro Manila at 93% (47% very satisfied, 46% fairly satisfied), Mindanao at 91% (57% very satisfied, 34% fairly satisfied), and the Visayas at 89% (64% very satisfied, 26% fairly satisfied).
Dissatisfaction with life, on the other hand, was highest in the Visayas at 11% (8% not very satisfied, 3% not at all satisfied), followed by Mindanao at 9% (8% not very satisfied, 1% not at all satisfied), Metro Manila at 7% (5% not very satisfied, 2% not at all satisfied), and Balance Luzon at 6% (5% not very satisfied, 0.3% not at all satisfied).
By class, Happiness was highest in class D, or the masa, at 95% (57% very happy, 38% fairly happy), while unhappiness was highest in class E at 10% (9% not very happy, 1% not at all happy).
Life satisfaction tends to be highest among class D at 93% (56% very satisfied, 37% fairly satisfied), while dissatisfaction with Life was highest in class E at 11% (9% not very satisfied, 2% not at all satisfied).
Happiness and satisfaction with life were also high regardless of religion.
The survey was conducted from December 8-16, 2017 through face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.