Amid the challenges of the past year, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that 90 percent of Filipinos remain optimistic about the coming year — a figure that, while still high, represented the lowest level of New Year hopefulness recorded in 15 years.

Released on Dec. 27, the nationwide SWS survey, conducted from Dec. 12 to 18, showed that 90 percent of adult Filipinos are entering the New Year with “hope rather than fear.”

However, SWS pointed out that this is six points lower than the 96 percent recorded in 2023, marking the lowest level since 89 percent in 2009.

Meanwhile, the survey found that 10 percent will enter the New Year with fear, a seven-point increase from the 3 percent in 2023, making it the highest level since 11 percent in 2009.

Trend over the years

SWS noted that hope for the New Year stood at 87 percent when the institution first surveyed the topic at the end of 2000.

“It was in the 80s at the end of 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2009,” SWS said. “It was in the 90s at the end of 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, and from 2010 to 2024,” it added.

SWS also noted that hope for the coming New Year was higher among those “expecting a happy Christmas.”

The Dec. 12 to 18 survey found that 65 percent of adult Filipinos were expecting a happy Christmas this year, 10 percent expected it to be sad, and 26 percent expected it to be neither happy nor sad.

“The percentage of those entering the New Year with hope rather than fear was higher among those who expected a happy Christmas (94 percent) than among those who expected neither a happy nor sad Christmas (87 percent) and those who expected a sad Christmas (74 percent),” SWS said.

“Hope for the coming New Year has always been higher among those who expected a happy Christmas than among those who expected a sad Christmas,” SWS added.

Hope for the New Year

SWS noted that hope for the New Year “fell in all areas.” 

As of December 2024, SWS reported that hope for the coming New Year was “highest” in Balance Luzon at 92 percent, followed by Metro Manila at 91 percent, Mindanao at 89 percent, and the Visayas at 87 percent.

SWS also noted that compared to the end of 2023, hope for the New Year “fell in all areas”: from 97 percent in Balance Luzon, 97 percent in Metro Manila, 96 percent in Mindanao, and 93 percent in the Visayas.

Moreover, SWS stated that hope for the New Year “fell in all educational levels.”

“Those entering the New Year with hope were higher among those with higher levels of education, but the figure declined across educational levels,” SWS said.

As of December 2024, SWS reported that hope for the New Year was “highest” among college graduates at 96 percent, followed by those with some senior high school education at 93 percent, junior high school graduates at 91 percent, elementary graduates at 89 percent, and non-elementary graduates at 83 percent.

SWS said that compared to the end of 2023, New Year hope “fell slightly” from 98 percent among college graduates and 96 percent among those with some senior high school education.

Hope for the New Year, SWS added, declined from 96 percent among junior high school graduates, 97 percent among elementary graduates, and 93 percent among non-elementary graduates.

The Fourth Quarter 2024 Social Weather Survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews with 2,160 adults nationwide.

SWS said 13 percent of the respondents were from Metro Manila, 45 percent from Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila), 19 percent from the Visayas, and 23 percent from Mindanao.

Of the total respondents, 53 percent were from urban areas and 47 percent were from rural areas.

By age group, SWS said the respondents were 10 percent youth (18 to 24), 19 percent intermediate youth (25 to 34), 20 percent middle-aged (35 to 44), 17 percent were 45 to 54 years old, and 33 percent were 55 years old and above.

SWS noted that by education, 13 percent had at most some elementary education, 30 percent either finished elementary or had some high school education, 27 percent either finished junior high school or completed vocational school, 20 percent either attended some senior high school, completed senior high school or vocational, or attended some college, and 10 percent either graduated from college or pursued post-graduate studies.