SWS: 93% of Filipinos entering 2022 with hope as pandemic persists

Residents frolic in the snow effect as as sparkling Christmas decors adorn the row of houses along Merced street in Paco, Manila on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021.
The STAR/Miguel de Guzman

MANILA, Philippines — Nine in 10 adult Filipinos are hopeful for 2022 after another year of battling a pandemic, according to a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations.

The results of the survey, released Wednesday, showed that 93% of the 1,440 respondents said they are entering the New Year “with hope rather than with fear.”

“The difference from the 91% recorded in 2020 is not statistically significant, but both readings are below the pre-COVID-19 96% in 2019,” SWS noted.

Meanwhile, 7% of Filipinos will welcome 2022 with fear, unchanged from 2020.

The proportion of those who are entering the New Year hopeful was higher among those who expected a happy Christmas (98%), than those who anticipated neither a merry nor sad Christmas (90%) and those who expected a sad holiday season (88%).

Last week, the polling firm released a survey, which showed that 65% of adult Filipinos expected a happy Christmas this year.

Hope rose most in Metro Manila

SWS also said that hope for the New Year rose in Metro Manila (to 95% from 90%), Balance Luzon (to 93% from 92%), and the Visayas (to 90% from 88% ). It stayed at 93% in Mindanao.

Hope for 2022 also went up among elementary graduates (from 89% to 90%), among junior high school graduates (to 94% from 92%), and among college graduates ( to 98% from 94%).

But it declined slightly to 89% from 91% among non-elementary graduates.

The survey was conducted from December 12 to 16 using face-to-face interviews. Although Super Typhoon 'Odette' hit the Philippines during the survey period, reports on casualties and the widespread damage it caused only began coming in the days after it hit.

The sampling error margins are ±2.6% for national percentages, and ±5.2% for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao.

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