31 May 2023 – SWS: Only 29% say quality of life improved

Janvic Mateo – The Philippine Star
May 31, 2023 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos who said their quality of life improved over the past year has dropped slightly in the latest survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

From 34 percent in a survey conducted in December last year, results of the March 26-29 poll released last Monday showed that only 29 percent of respondents saw their quality of life improve compared to 12 months ago.

Some 25 percent said it worsened, while 46 percent said it stayed the same, from 26 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

The latest survey resulted in a “net gainers” score of +5, the rounded-off difference of those who said their lives worsened from those who said their lives improved.

It slightly went down from the +8 net gainers score obtained in the December 2022 survey.

SWS said the latest score was 18 points below the pre-pandemic level of a “very high” +18 (21 percent worse, 39 percent better) obtained in December 2019.

The net gainers score dropped to an all-time low of -78 (six percent better, 83 percent worse) in May 2020 due to the pandemic, before improving in the following months.

It was zero (30 percent better, 29 percent worse, rounded off) in October last year, the first survey conducted under the present Marcos administration.

Based on the latest survey, the net gainers score was highest among respondents in Balance Luzon at +12 (from +10), followed by those in Mindanao at +6 (from +10), Metro Manila at +2 (from +18) and the Visayas at -14 (from -4).

In terms of educational attainment, it was highest among college graduates at +20 (from +18), followed by high school graduates at +7 (from +13), elementary graduates at +1 (from zero) and non-elementary graduates at -5 (from -2).

The survey had 1,200 adult respondents and a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent for national percentages.