A nationwide survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) for the 4th quarter of 2022 showed that 49 percent of adult Filipinos said their quality of lives will improve in the next 12 months, 5 percent said it will worsen, and 37 percent said it will stay the same.
Meanwhile, 8 percent did not give an answer.
The results of the survey, which was conducted from Dec. 10 to 14, 2022, were released on Monday, Jan. 30. The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.
“The resulting Net Personal Optimism score is +44 (percentage of optimists minus percentage of pessimists, correctly rounded), classified by SWS as excellent (+40 and up),” SWS said.
It used the term “optimists” for those who believe their quality of life will get better and “pessimists” for those who think their quality of life will worsen.
SWS noted that the December 2022 Net Personal Optimism score was four points above the excellent +40 in October 2022 and the highest since the pre-pandemic score of excellent +44 in December 2019.
“The survey question on the respondents’ prediction of their quality-of-life change over the next 12 months has been fielded 147 times since April 1984,” SWS pointed out.
“Out of the 147 surveys, the Net Personal Optimism score was negative only 11 times, reaching a historic low of -19 in May 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. It has since trended back upwards to pre-pandemic levels,” it added.
Net optimism rises in Mindanao, hardly changes elsewhere
According to SWS, the four-point increase in the national Net Personal Optimism score between October 2022 to December was due to an increase in Mindanao, combined with steady scores in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon—or Luzon outside Metro Manila, and the Visayas.
Compared to October 2022, Net Personal Optimism rose from very high to excellent in Mindanao, up by 14 points from +34 to +48.
It stayed excellent in Metro Manila, hardly moving from +50 to +49, as well as in Balance Luzon, from +42 to +43.
It also stayed very high in the Visayas, barely moving from +36 to +37.
Moreover, SWS said that compared to October 2022, Net Personal Optimism stayed excellent among those who either graduated from college or took post-graduate studies, although down from +57 to +52.
It also stayed excellent among those who either finished junior high school, had some vocational schooling, had some senior high school, finished senior high school, completed vocational school, or attended some college, up from +44 to +46.
Meanwhile, it rose from very high to excellent among those who either finished elementary or had some high school education, up from +33 to +40.
SWS said it stayed very high among those who either had no formal education or some elementary education, up from +30 to +35.