Quality of life worsens, but Filipinos remain optimistic – SWS

MANILA, Philippines — More Filipinos believe that their lives worsened in the second quarter of the year, but remain optimistic that the quality of life and the economy will improve, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed yesterday.

Results of the second quarter poll conducted from June 27 to 30 showed that the number of Filipinos who said their lives worsened increased to 27 percent from 21 percent in March.

Those who said their lives improved fell from 41 percent to 32 percent, resulting in a net gainers score (gainers minus losers) of +5.

The figure is down 15 points from the +20 recorded in March, with SWS saying it is the lowest since the +3 recorded in April 2016.

Despite the drop in the quality of life, Filipinos remain optimistic that their lives and the economy will improve in the next 12 months.

The survey found 49 percent of Filipinos expect their personal quality of life to improve, up three points from 46 percent in March.

Those who expect their lives to get worse fell by a point from six percent to five percent.

The survey found 43 percent of Filipinos expect that the Philippine economy would get better, up by a point from 42 percent in March.

The number of those who think that the economy would deteriorate increased by a point from 12 percent to 13 percent.

Worse for poor, hungry

Based on the survey results, the deterioration of quality of life was evident among those who identified their families as poor and hungry.

The data showed that 31 percent of those who classified themselves as poor said the quality of their lives worsened, up from 17 percent in March.

Thirty-five percent of those who are moderately hungry said their lives worsened, up from 27 percent in the first quarter survey.

The number of those who said they experienced severe hunger rose from 18 percent to 31 percent.

The survey interviewed 1,200 adult respondents, with a margin of error of +/- three percent.