A nationwide survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) for the second quarter of 2023 showed that 46 percent of adult Filipinos believe their quality of life will improve in the next 12 months.

The survey results released on Thursday, Oct. 19 revealed that 5 percent of respondents believe their quality of life will worsen and 44 percent say it will remain unchanged.

Meanwhile, the remaining 5 percent did not provide an answer.

SWS 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.

“The resulting net personal optimism score is +41 (percentage of optimists minus percentage of pessimists), classified by SWS as excellent (+40 and up),” it said.

It noted that the current net personal optimism score is three points higher than the “very high” +38 in the first quarter of 2023.

‘Excellent’ net optimism in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon; ‘very high’ in Visayas, Mindanao

SWS attributed the three-point increase in the national net personal optimism to the increases in the Visayas and Balance Luzon, or Luzon outside of Metro Manila, combined with a steady score in Metro Manila and a decline in Mindanao.

Compared to March 2023, net personal optimism rose from high to very high in the Visayas, up by 12 points from +27 to +39.

It also rose from very high to excellent in Balance Luzon, up by seven points from +37 to +44.

Meanwhile, it stayed excellent in Metro Manila, down slightly by four points from +45 to +41.

However, it fell from excellent to very high in Mindanao, down by 11 points from +47 to +36.

Net optimism among college, junior HS grads ‘excellent’

Compared to March 2023, SWS said the net personal optimism stayed excellent among those who either graduated from college or took post-graduate studies, up by five points from +45 to +50.

It also stayed excellent among those who finished junior high school, had some vocational schooling, had some senior high school, finished senior high school, completed vocational school, or attended college, up by five points from +42 to +47.

It also remained very high among those who either finished elementary or had some high school education, hardly moving from +35 to +32.

Likewsie, it stayed high among those who either had no formal education or some elementary education, hardly changing from +28 to +29.

Net personal optimism scores are classified by SWS as follows: “excellent” for +40 and above; “very high” for +30 to +39; “high” for +20 to +29; “fair” for +10 to +19; “mediocre” for +1 to +9; “low” for -9 to zero; and “very low” for -10 and below.

The Second Quarter 2023 SWS survey conducted from June 28 to July 1 involved face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adult respondents nationwide, with sampling error margins of ±2.5 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent in Balance Luzon, and ±5.7 percent in Metro Manila.