Four out of 10 Filipinos believe that the quality of their life will improve in the next 12 months, results of a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

Conducted on Nov. 21-25, the SWS survey found 44 percent of Filipinos said their quality of life will “improve” (optimists) while 9 percent said it will “worsen” (pessimists) and 36 percent said quality of life will stay the same (no change).

The pollster found that the net personal optimism is at +35, classified as very high, and is 33 points up from the mediocre +2 in September 2020. This is an improvement from the -19 in May 2020 and -10 in July 2020 despite the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

According to the SWS, the 33-point recovery in the national net personal optimism score is due to increases in all areas from September 2020: 48 points in Mindanao, 39 points in the Visayas, 27 points in Balance Luzon, and 25 points in Metro Manila.

In November 2020, net personal optimism is higher in Mindanao (excellent +40) and Balance Luzon (very high +39) than in Metro Manila (very high +30) and the Visayas (high +25).

Meanwhile, the pollster also found 62 percent of adult Filipinos said their personal quality of life got worse (losers), 24 percent saying it was the same (unchanged), and 14 percent saying it got better (gainers”), compared to a year ago.

Net personal optimism is higher among Gainers (excellent +52) than among Losers (very high +32) and the Unchanged (very high +35).

Among Filipinos who consider themselves “not poor”, net personal optimism is very high +36. Likewise, the score is very high among the self-rated poor at +31. Meanwhile, among those at the borderline, the score is excellent +42.

In November 2020, 48 percent of Filipino families were self-rated poor, 36 percent were borderline, and 16 percent were not poor.

Hope for the New Year

The SWS found 91 percent of adult Filipinos entering the New Year “with hope” and 7 percent “with fear.”

By expected change in the quality of life, New Year hope was higher among optimists (95 percent) and among those who expect their quality-of-life to be the same (90 percent) than among pessimists (81 percent)

By change in quality-of-life in the last 12 months, New Year hope hardly varied among gainers (92 percent), unchanged (91 percent), and losers (91 percent)

In conducting the survey, the SWS utilized face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adult Filipinos nationwide from Nov. 21 to 25.

The SWS said it was the first poll involving in-person interviews this year due to the threat of Covid-19.

The poll had a sampling error margin of ±2.5 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent for Balance Luzon, and ±6 percent for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

In conducting the survey, the SWS utilized face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adult Filipinos nationwide from Nov. 21 to 25.

The SWS said it was the first poll involving in-person interviews this year due to the threat of Covid-19.

The poll had a sampling error margin of ±2.5 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent for Balance Luzon, and ±6 percent for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. CURRENTPH