Filipinos remain optimistic about quality of life, economy — SWS

MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos are positive that their quality of life and the Philippine economy will get better this year, the latest Social Weathers Station survey showed.

Nearly five of 10 Filipinos (49 percent) expect their personal quality of life to improve in the next 12 months, with only three percent saying it will get worse.

This yielded a net score of +46 or excellent, matching the record-high level that was first achieved in June 2016. The net score is also four points higher than the excellent +42 in September 2017.

The net personal optimism remained excellent in Mindanao (+50), Metro Manila (+52) and Balance Luzon (+45) and very high in Visayas (+39).

It also stayed excellent in classes ABC (+59) and D or the masa (+47), while it remained very high in class E (+33).

READ: More Filipinos see better life, economy in 2018 – SWS

Half of Filipinos are positive about economy

The December 2017 survey also found out that 52 percent of Filipinos are optimistic that the general Philippine economy this year will get better, while only nine percent expect that it will deteriorate.

The net optimism about the economy is classified as excellent at +42, 12 points above the excellent +30 in September 2017.

It remained excellent in all areas and in all classes.

The polling firm noted that net optimism about the economy has been excellent since December 2015.

4 of 10 Filipinos say their lives improved

The December 2017 survey showed that 41 percent of Filipinos said their lives improved compared to 12 months ago. Eighteen percent said their lives worsened.

This resulted in a record-high net gainer score of +23 or excellent. The net score is also four points higher than the previous record of +19.

The net gainer score is classified as excellent in Metro Manila (+30), Mindanao (+29) and Balance Luzon (+22) and very high in Visayas (+11).

It also remained excellent in class D (+24) and became very high in classes ABC (+18) and E (+15).

The fourth quarter survey was done from Dec. 8 to 16, 2017 using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults.

It has sampling error margins of ±3 for national percentages, and ±6 each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.