Quality of life unchanged for 45% of Filipinos; 30% improved — SWS

Forty-five percent of Filipinos believed that their quality of life remained unchanged in the last 12 months, a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed Friday.

Results of the survey, held from December 8 to December 11, 2023, also showed that 30% believed that their quality of life improved, while 25% said it got worse.

The SWS calls those who believe their lives improved "gainers,” while those who believe that their lives worsened are “losers.”

According to the SWS, the result of the survey gave a “high” net gainers score of +5. It said this is seven points higher than the -2 in September 2023 but six points below the very high +11 in June 2023.

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

The SWS said the net gainers score is higher among non-hungry families than hungry families.

It said net gainers were at a high of +7 among non-hungry families, an increase from -1 in September 2023. Meanwhile, it was at a mediocre -11 among moderately hungry families and a low -26 among severely hungry families.

Results also showed that net gainers increased from a fair -9 in September to a very high +16 in Metro Manila. Net gainers also rose from a fair -7 to a high +4 in Visayas.

It stayed high in Balance Luzon and fair in Mindanao.

The SWS survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults aged 18 years and older nationwide. Of this number, 300 are from Balance Luzon, 300 from Metro Manila, 300 from the Visayas, and 300 from Mindanao.

The sampling error margins are ±2.8% for national percentages and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. — VBL, GMA Integrated News