Filipinos continue to be true to the happy-go-lucky personality they’re known for, as seen in a recent survey that shows how 38 percent of adult Filipinos believe that their lives improved in the last 12 months.
The study, released by local pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS) today, also found that only 21 percent said that their lives worsened in the same period. SWS classifies those who said their lives improved as “gainers” and those who said that their lives worsened as “losers.”
Based on this first quarter data collected in March, the country got a Net Gainers score (percent gainers minus percent losers) of +17, which is considered “very high.”
This is the second consecutive quarter for the Philippines’ Net Gainers score to improve. In December of last year, it was at +12, also considered “very high.” Before that, in September 2018, the score dropped to -2, which is considered “fair.”
The improvement was reportedly due to an increase in optimists all over the country except in Mindanao, where the Net Gainers score was recorded at +18 (very high), a two-point drop from the +16 (very high) score in December last year.
The Net Gainers score also rose in all classes except class E, where it fell by 4 points from +12 (very high) in December 2018 to +8 (high) in March this year.
Many Filipinos are also optimistic about the future.
The same study from March found that 50 percent of those surveyed expect their personal quality of life to improve in the next 12 months, while only 4 percent see it getting worse. This resulted in a Net Personal Optimists score of +47, which is considered “excellent.”
This is 7 points higher than the score last quarter and was brought by an increase in the Net Personal Optimists score in all areas except Metro Manila. However, it only decreased by 2 points in the metro and its +42 score is still considered “excellent.”
This optimism carried over to their thoughts on the Philippines’ economy, with 45 percent of Filipinos saying that it will improve in the next 12 months. Only 10 percent were pessimistic about the future of the country’s economy, resulting in a Net Economic Optimists score of +35, also classified as “excellent.”
Although the Net Economic Optimists score in Mindanao dropped from +50 (excellent) in December 2018 to +44 (excellent) in March 2019, the southernmost Philippine island still has the highest score among all areas.
The Net Economic Optimists score has been highest in Mindanao, where President Rodrigo Duterte is from, ever since June 2016, which incidentally, was when Duterte started his term.
Metro Manila’s Net Economic Optimists score increased from +27 (excellent) in December to +30 (excellent) in March, while the score in the rest of Luzon saw a 10-point increase from +26 (excellent) in December to +36 (excellent) in March. Visayas’ score decreased by 5 points from +30 (excellent) in December to +25 (excellent) in March.
The Net Economic Optimist score improved in all classes except class E, which went from a +30 (excellent) in December to a +28 (excellent) in March.
SWS’s latest study was conducted from March 28 – 31 this year and surveyed 1,440 Filipinos nationwide aged 18 years old and above.
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