The quality of life for 79% of adult Filipinos got worse this year compared to the same period last year, a national phone survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said on Friday.

The 79% proportion of those who said their life became worse in July 2020 is the second highest proportion recorded by SWS. The figure is next to the record-high of 83% in May 2020, the survey said.

At least 12% said their life remain unchanged while 8%, the second lowest proportion recorded, said their lives have improved. The previous record of Filipinos who said they live better live was 6% in May 2020.

The survey, conducted from July 3 to 6, was a probability-based survey conducted using mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) of 1,555 Filipino respondents who are 18 years old and older, SWS said.

There were 306 in the National Capital Region, 451 in Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside of Metro Manila), 388 in the Visayas, and 410 in Mindanao with sampling error margins of ±2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, ±5 for Balance Luzon, ±5% for the Visayas, and ±5% for Mindanao.

Although there is an improvement in the the number of people who say their lives are better or the Gainers, the figure remains “catastrophic” with the lowest recorded in the Visayas at –75, followed by Balance Luzon at –74, Metro Manila at –71, and Mindanao at –65.

Although still catastrophic, the scores improved in all areas from May 2020. The biggest improvement was noted in Mindanao, up from –80 in May to –65 in July 2020.

In the Visayas, the score is higher from –82 in May to –75 in July. In Metro Manila, the score improved from –77 in May to –71 in July.

In Balance Luzon, however, the score hardly moved, as the figure recorded was –75 in May and –74 in July.

According to the family’s experience of involuntary hunger in the past three months, the Net Gainers’ score is lower among those whose families experienced involuntary hunger (–77) than among those whose families did not (–70).

Further, the score is lower among those who experienced severe hunger (“often” and “always”) at –84 (currently rounded) than among those who experienced moderate hunger (“only once” and “a few times”) at –75.

In July 2020, 20.9% of Filipino families (est. 5.2 million) experienced involuntary hunger.

The Net Gainers score is lower among those who received assistance from the government (–74) than among those who did not (–66). This means that there were more among the Losers who received government assistance than among the Gainers.

The July 2020 survey found that 72% said their families received assistance from government since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, said the SWS.

By educational attainment, the Net Gainers score is lowest among junior high school graduates including those with up to some vocational education (–78), followed by non-elementary graduates (–77), those with up to some junior high school education (–73), those with up to some college education (–70), and college graduates (–60).

The SWS said historically, those with higher educational attainment have a higher Net Gainers score./Stacy Ang