Filipinos' optimism over their quality of life continues to improve, based on the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results released on Friday, July 23.
Of the 1,200 respondents in its June 23-26 survey, SWS found that 37 percent of Filipino adults believe that their quality of life will improve in the next 12 months.
Meanwhile, seven percent said it will worsen, 42 percent said it will stay the same, and 14 percent did not give an answer.
These translate to a net personal optimism score of +30 (percentage of Filipinos who believe their quality of lives will improve or "optimists" minus the percentage of Filipinos who believe their quality of lives will worsen or "pessimists")--classified by SWS as "very high."
The grade "excellent" is applied to net personal optimism scores at +40 or more; "very high" to scores between +30 and +39; "high" to scores between +20 and +29; "fair" to scores between +10 and +19; "mediocre" to scores between +1 to +9; "low" to scores between –9 and net-zero; and "very low" to scores at –10 and below. The grade "fair" is assigned to the range +10 to +19.
SWS noted that the June 2021 net personal optimism score is six points above the "high" +24 in May 2021, but five points below the "very high" +35 in November 2020.
"Still, the last three surveys show a continuing recovery from historic lows of -19 in May 2020 and -10 in July 2020," it said.
SWS attributed the six-point rise in the national net personal optimism score from May 2021 to June 2021 to the increases of 12 points in Balance Luzon, or Luzon outside Metro Manila, and five points in Metro Manila, combined with steady scores in the Visayas and Mindanao.
In June 2021, net personal optimism is higher in Balance Luzon (very high +38) and Metro Manila (very high +34) than in Mindanao (high +24) and the Visayas (fair +15).