45% of Filipinos think their quality of life remained the same in past 12 months — SWS

A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in December 2023 found that nearly half of Filipinos think their quality of life remained “unchanged” compared to a year ago.

Forty-five percent of Filipinos believe their quality of life has remained the same, 30 percent think it has "improved," and 25 percent believe it has "deteriorated" since the previous year.

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 to a net gainers score of +5 (percentage of gainers minus percentage of losers), classified by SWS as “high” (+1 to +9).

“The December 2023 net gainer score was seven points above the fair -2 in September 2023 but six points below the very high +11 in June 2023,” SWS said in its report released on Friday, Jan. 26.

The survey question on the respondents’ assessment of their change in quality of life in the past 12 months has been fielded 151 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,” SWS said.

Although it has since rebounded, SWS noted that it has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

Assessment of quality of life ‘very high’ in Metro Manila, ‘excellent’ among college grads

The increases in Metro Manila (from -9 to +16) and the Visayas (from -7 to +4), along with a slight increase in Balance Luzon (from +3 to +6) and a steady score in Mindanao (from -4 to -3), contributed to the seven-point increase in the national net gainer score between September 2023 and December 2023, SWS said.

Meanwhile, Filipinos’ assessment of their quality of life was “excellent” among college graduates (+25), “high” among junior high school graduates (+5) and non-elementary graduates (+5), and “fair” among elementary graduates (-4).

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. 

The Fourth Quarter 2023 SWS survey was conducted from Dec. 8 to 11 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.

The sampling error margins are ±2.8 percent for national percentages, and ±5.7 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.