Thirty-one percent of Filipinos said that their life got worse in the past 12 months, 29 percent said it got better, and 39 percent said it was the same, according to a survey released by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on Wednesday, Sept. 14.

The non-commissioned survey was conducted from June 26 to 29, 2022, using face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adult respondents nationwide.

The respondents were particularly asked: “Kung ikukumpara ang uri ng inyong kasalukuyang pamumuhay sa nakaraang 12 buwan, masasabi ba ninyo na ang uri ng inyong pamumuhay ay mas mabuti kaysa noon, kapareho ng dati, o mas masama kaysa noon?(Comparing your quality of life these days to how it was 12 months ago, would you say that your quality of life is better now than before, same as before, or worse now than before?)”

“The national Social Weather Survey of June 26-29, 2022, the last under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, found 31 percent of adult Filipinos saying their quality-of-life was worse than twelve months before (termed by SWS as ‘losers’), 29 percent saying it got better (‘gainers’), and 39 percent saying it was the same (‘unchanged’), compared to a year ago,” SWS said.

The resulting net gainers score is -2 (percentage of gainers minus percentage of losers), classified by SWS as “fair” (-9 to zero). This is similar to the fair -2 in April 2022.

However, SWS pointed out that the current gainers score is 20 points below the pre-pandemic level of the “very high” +18 in December 2019.

Net gainers score ‘high’ in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon; ‘fair’ in Mindanao; ‘mediocre’ in Visayas

According to SWS, the “steady” national net gainer score between April 2022 and June 2022 was because of increases in Metro Manila and Luzon outside Metro Manila or Balance Luzon, combined with decreases in the Mindanao and Visayas.

Compared to April 2022, net gainers stayed high in Metro Manila—up by two points from +4 to +6, and in Balance Luzon—up by four points from +1 to +5.

Meanwhile, net gainers score remained fair in Mindanao, although down by three points from -4 to -7.

It also stayed mediocre in the Visayas, even though it was down by five points from -12 to -17.

Net gainers score down among college, non-elementary grads

Compared to April 2022, SWS said that net gainers fell from fair to mediocre among non-elementary graduates, down by three points from -9 to -12; and from very high to high among college graduates, down by 12 points from +14 to +2.

Meanwhile, it rose from mediocre to fair among elementary graduates, up by six points from -13 to -7.

SWS, however, said it stayed at high +3 among junior high school graduates.