A nationwide survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) for the fourth quarter of 2022 showed that 34 percent of adult Filipinos said their quality of lives improved in the past 12 months, 26 percent said it got worse, and 39 percent said it was the same.
The results of the survey, which was conducted from Dec. 10 to 14, 2022, were released on Wednesday, Jan. 25. The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.
SWS used the term “gainers” for those who believe their quality of life got better, “losers” for those who think their quality of life worsened, and “unchanged” for those who said it stayed the same.
The latest figures translate into a net gainers score of +8 (percentage of optimists minus percentage of pessimists), which is classified by SWS as “high.”
“The December 2022 Net Gainer score was up from the fair levels of net zero in October 2022 and -2 in June 2022 and April 2022. However, it is still 10 points below the pre-pandemic level of very high +18 in December 2019,” SWS noted.
It said that the survey question on the respondents’ assessment of their change in quality-of-life in the past 12 months has been fielded 147 times since April 1983.
“The Net Gainer score was generally negative until 2015, when it rose to positive numbers until the drastic deterioration beginning with the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. It has since trended back upwards but still has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels,” SWS pointed out.
Net gainers score improves
SWS explained that the eight-point rise in the national net gainer score between October 2022 and December 2022 was due to increases in all areas, especially in Mindanao.
Compared to October 2022, net gainers rose from high to very high in Metro Manila, up by nine points from +9 to +18.
It also rose from high to very high in Balance Luzon, up by two points from +8 to +10; from mediocre to fair in the Visayas, up by nine points from -13 to -4; and from mediocre to very high in Mindanao, up by 21 points from -11 to +10.
Moreover, compared to October 2022, SWS said the net gainers fell from excellent to very high among college graduates, down by two points from +20 to +18.
However, it noted that it rose from high to very high among junior high school graduates, up by eight points from +5 to +13.
It also rose from mediocre to fair among elementary graduates, up by 12 points from -12 to net zero, while it stayed fair among non-elementary graduates, although up by six points from -8 to -2.
The following are the classifications of Net Gainers scores: “Excellent” is applied to scores at +20 and above; “Very High” to scores between +10 and +19; “High” to scores between +1 and +9; “Fair” to scores between –9 and zero; “Mediocre” to scores between –19 and –10; “Low” to scores between –29 and –20; “Very Low” to scores between –39 and –30; “Extremely Low” to scores at –49 to –40; and “Catastrophic” to scores –50 and below.