The majority of adult Filipinos believed that their quality of life would “improve” over the next six months based on the survey findings released by OCTA Research on Monday, Sept. 18.

The findings, focusing on optimism and pessimism regarding the Philippine economy and the quality of life of Filipinos, are from the Tugon ng Masa (TNM) nationwide survey, an independent and non-partisan poll conducted regularly by OCTA Research.

“About 55% of adult Filipinos believe that their quality of life will improve over the next six months,” the survey findings showed. “In contrast, 36% think that their quality of life will stay the same, while four percent (4%) believe that it will worsen,” it added. 

The OCTA survey also noted that optimism about the quality of life of adult Filipinos had increased since March 2023.

“Optimism regarding the quality of life of adult Filipinos slightly increased by one percentage point since March 2023 from 54% to 55%,” OCTA added.

The survey also revealed that the percentage of adult Filipinos who are optimistic that their quality of life will improve over the next six months ranged from 46% to 58%.

“Notably, there is a relatively lower percentage of adult Filipinos in Visayas (46%) who think that their quality of life will improve over the next six months compared to other major areas,” OCTA said.

“In contrast, NCR [National Capital Region] (57%) , Balanced Luzon (58%) and Mindanao (58%) have more than half of adult Filipinos who think that their quality of life will improve over the next six months compared,” it added.

Optimism down

In the same survey, OCTA noted that less than half of adult Filipinos think that the Philippine economy will improve over the next six months.

“Only 46% of adult Filipinos are optimistic that the economy will improve over the next six months,” the TNM survey results showed.

Optimism was down by four percent (4%) from the 50% recorded in the first quarter of the TNM survey, OCTA said.

OCTA noted that based on the second quarter TNM survey conducted last July 2023, “43% think that the economy will stay the same, while six percent (6%) believe that it will worsen.”

Findings of the TNM survey also showed that the percentage of adult Filipinos who believe that the Philippine economy will improve over the next six months ranges from 31% to 54%.

“The highest percentage is recorded in Balance Luzon (54%), and the lowest is observed in Visayas (31%),” OCTA said.

OCTA said the percentage of adult Filipinos who believe that the Philippine economy will worsen over the next six months ranges from two percent (2%) in Balanced Luzon to 11% in Visayas.

Pessimism about the economy and quality of life, OCTA added, “remained constant in the second quarter.”

The fieldwork for the said survey was conducted from July 22 to 26, 2023, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 respondents across the country aged 18 years and above.

“This survey has a ±3% margin of error at a 95% confidence level,” OCTA said.