SWS: Quality of life improved for 28% Pinoys, worsened for 30%, unchanged for 41%

Thirty percent of adult Filipinos believed that their quality of life got worse over the past 12 months, results of a recent non-commissioned survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

Based on the survey conducted from September 28 to October 1, 2023, 28% of adult Filipinos also said their quality of life was better than 12 months before, while 41% said it was the same.

SWS said this resulted in a net gainers score of -2, which was classified as “fair.” It was also 13 points below the “very high” score of +11 in June 2023, and was considered the lowest since the -2 in June 2022.

“The Net Gainer score was generally negative until 2015, when it rose to positive numbers until the drastic deterioration beginning with the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. It has since trended back upwards but has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels,” SWS said.

It also attributed the 13-point decline in the nationwide net gainer score between June 2023 and September 2023 to the decreases in all areas.

Compared to June 2023, net gainers decreased from “very high” to “fair” in Metro Manila, down by 27 points from +18 to -9.

It also fell from “very high” to “high” in Balance Luzon from +13 to +3; and from “very high” to “fair” in Visayas from +10 to -7.

Mindanao, meanwhile, also saw a decline from “high” to “fair” from +2 to -4.

Hunger, self-rated poor

The survey also revealed that 9.8% of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger, or being hungry and not having anything to eat, at least once in the past three months.

Net gainers were “fair” at -1 among non-hungry families, compared to the “mediocre” -12 among moderately hungry families, and the “low” -21 among severely hungry families.

Compared to June 2023, the net gainers score fell from “very high” to “fair” among the non-hungry families, from +13 to -1.

On the other hand, 48% of families rated themselves as poor, 27% rated themselves as borderline, and 25% rated themselves as not poor.

The SWS explained that self-rated poor are those who belong in households whose heads rated their family as poor. This status is then adopted for all members of the same household.

Net gainers were “high” at +5 among the not poor, and +4 among the borderline, compared to the “fair” -9 among the poor.

The net gainers score also dropped from “excellent” to “high” among the not poor, down by 25 points from +30 to +5, as compared to June 2023.

It also fell from “very high” to “high” among the borderline from +18 to +4, and stayed “fair” among the poor, although down by 5 points from -4 to -9.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.

It has sampling error margins of ±2.8% for national percentages, and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. —KG, GMA Integrated News