Almost half of Filipinos are optimistic that their quality of life will improve in the next 12 months, a non-commissioned Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from Sept. 14 to 23 showed.
The survey, released on Thursday, Nov. 14, showed that 47 percent of Filipinos believe their quality of life will improve, and 40 percent expect it to remain the same.
Meanwhile, only 5 percent believe it will worsen, and 8 percent did not respond.
SWS used the term “optimists” for those who believe their quality of life will improve and “pessimists” for those who think their quality of life will worsen.
“The resulting Net Personal Optimism score is +42 (percentage of optimists minus percentage of pessimists), classified by SWS as excellent,” SWS said.
“The September 2024 Net Personal Optimism score was similar to the excellent +41 in June 2024, following a slight increase from very high +37 in March 2024,” it added.
Scores of +40 and higher are classified as “excellent,” while scores of +30 to +39 are classified as “very high,” +20 to +29 as “high,” +10 to +19 as “fair,” +1 to +9 as “mediocre,” –9 to zero as “low,” and –10 and below as “very low.”
“The one-point increase in the national Net Personal Optimism score between June 2024 and September 2024 was due to slight increases in Metro Manila and the Visayas, combined with a slight decrease in Mindanao and a steady score in Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside of Metro Manila),” SWS said.
In Metro Manila, the score increased from +40 to +45, remaining in the "excellent" range.
Balance Luzon saw little change, with a slight dip from +49 to +48, also classified as “excellent.”
The Visayas moved from a “high” to a “very high” rating, rising from +27 to +31.
Meanwhile, Mindanao’s score remained in the “very high” range but decreased from +39 to +37.
The Third Quarter 2024 SWS survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults, aged 18 and above, nationwide.