40% of Filipino adults say quality of life got worse – SWS

MANILA, Philippines – About 4 in 10 or 40% of Filipino adults said their quality of life has become worse compared to a year ago, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found.

The results released on Sunday, March 6, also showed that 24% of Filipinos said their lives got better while 36% said their lives remained unchanged.

The survey was conducted from December 12 to 16, 2021, with respondents being asked: “Comparing your quality of life these days to how it was 12 months ago, would you say that your quality of life is better now than before, same as before, or worse now than before?”

SWS categorized those whose lives got better as “gainers” while those who were worse than before are “losers.” Filipinos whose quality of life remained the same are called “unchanged.”

The polling firm found that the net gainers score – gainers minus losers – was at -16, which it classifies as mediocre. This score is 28 points higher than September 2021’s -44, but significantly lower than December 2019’s +18.

The improvement in the net gainers score, according to SWS, can be attributed to an increase in all areas.

The net gainers score in Metro Manila was up by 40 points, to -11 in December 2021 from September 2021’s -51, or a change from catastrophic to mediocre, based on SWS’ classification.

Mindanao rose by 32 points from -47 to -15 while Balance Luzon was up by 30 points from -41 to -11, both easing from extremely low to mediocre.

The net gainers score in the Visayas, meanwhile, was up by 15 points from -46 to -31.

The SWS survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews with 1,440 Filipinos aged 18 years old and above nationwide. The sampling error margins were at ±2.6% for the national level and ±5.2% for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. – Rappler.com