SWS survey shows Filipinos’ quality of life remains steady in Q1 2024

A nationwide survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from March 21 to 25 revealed that 30 percent of Filipinos expressed an improvement in their quality of life, while 25 percent reported a decline compared to 12 months ago.

The SWS survey results, released on Friday, June 14, also found that 45 percent of Filipinos said their quality of life remained the same.

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 March 2024 net gainer score was similar to +5 (30 percent gainers, 25 percent losers) in December 2023. It 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.

The "steady" nationwide net gainer score between December 2023 and March 2024 was attributed to an increase in Balance Luzon, or Luzon outside Metro Manila, alongside declines in Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

Compared to December 2023, net gainers in Balance Luzon surged from high to very high (from +6 to +14).

However, Metro Manila saw a decline from very high to high (from +16 to +9), while the Visayas dropped from high to fair (from +4 to -2).

Mindanao remained fair, albeit with a slight decrease (from -3 to -8).

The First Quarter 2024 SWS survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults nationwide.

The sampling error margins are ±2.5 percent for national percentages, and ±5.7 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

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.