94% of Filipinos welcome 2014 with hope

MANILA, Philippines – Are you entering 2014 with hope rather than fear?

If you are, then you are in the company of majority of Filipinos polled by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from December 11-16. 

Despite a turbulent 2013 for the Philippines – which saw the wrath of the strongest typhoon ever recorded and the exposé on the biggest corruption scandal in recent history – the SWS survey found that 94% of Filipino adults are entering the New Year with hope rather than fear. 

The finding is a slight increase from 92% recorded in 2013 and is only 1% lower than in 2011 and 2002, when the highest level of hopefulness was recorded since 2000. 

New Year hope is “widespread in all areas,” according to SWS, with Luzon being the most hopeful at 97%, compared to the Visayas (93%) and Mindanao (92%). 

The “high levels” of hope as the New Year approaches, however, comes as no surprise. 

Based on data, Filipinos are more “hopeful” rather than “fearful” at the end of every year. 

Since SWS first conducted the survey in 2000, Filipinos’ New Year hope has not gone below 80%, with the lowest level ever recorded at 81% in 2004, the year of the turbulent presidential election.

The results are much higher than New Year hope in Germany, where the survey question originated. From 1990 to 2012, the hopefulness of Germans for the coming year ranged from 31% to 58%.

– Rappler.com