Almost the same percentages of Filipino families said their holiday celebration this year will be “more prosperous than last year” or “just as prosperous as what they had a year ago,” according to the results of the Pulse Asia “Ulat ng Bayan” survey, which was released on Monday, Dec. 19.

The survey, which was conducted from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1 with 1,200 adult respondents nationwide, found that 43 percent of Filipino households expect their family’s holiday celebration will be more prosperous than last year, while 42 percent expect their celebration to be no different from the one they had last year, which they describe as a prosperous one.

“The same pattern of public opinion may be observed in the rest of Luzon (35 percent versus 41 percent), Mindanao (46 percent versus 48 percent), Class ABC (36 percent versus 48 percent), Class D (44 percent versus 41 percent), and Class E (39 percent versus 43 percent),” Pulse Asia said.

“Most Visayans (66 percent) will have a more prosperous holiday celebration this year while a small majority of Metro Manilans (58 percent) say their celebration this year will be just as prosperous as what they had last year. The rest of Filipino adults will have either a family holiday celebration that is just as poor as what they last year (10 percent) or one that is poorer than their festivities a year ago (6 percent),” it added.

During the same survey period, most adult Filipinos, or about 92 percent, will face the year ahead with hope.

Pulse Asia hope is the sentiment echoed by 89 percent to 99 percent of Filipinos across geographic areas and by 86 percent to 94 percent in the various socio-economic classes.

Meanwhile, “ambivalence” on the matter is expressed by 8 percent of adults, while less than 1 percent say they will face the coming new year without hope.