39% say quality of life improved in past year – poll

MANILA, Philippines —  Quality of life improved for almost four in every 10 Filipinos over the past year, the highest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a recent survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) said.

Results of the survey conducted from June 23 to July 1 found that 39 percent of the respondents said their quality of life improved in the past 12 months.

According to SWS, those who said their quality of life improved over the past year
 increased by nine points from 30 percent obtained in a similar survey in March 2024.

Those who said that their quality of life worsened decreased from 25 percent to 23 percent, while those who said that it stayed the same dropped from 45 percent from 37 percent.

The latest poll has a “net gainers” score of +15, which is the rounded off difference of those who said their lives improved from those who said their lives worsened.

It was the highest since the +18 obtained in December 2019.

The Marcos administration started with a “net gainers” score of zero (30 percent better, 29 percent worse, rounded off) in the survey conducted in October 2022.

It went up to +11 (33 percent better, 22 percent worse) in June 2023, but went down to -2 (28 percent better, 30 percent worse) in September 2023.

Across areas, the latest “net gainers” score was highest among those in balance Luzon at +26 (from +14), followed by those in Metro Manila at +16 (from +9), the Visayas at +1 (from -2) and Mindanao at +7 (from -8).

By educational attainment, the “net gainers” score was highest among college graduates at +21 (from +10), followed by those with some college education at +19 (from +12), those with some high school education at +14 (from -4) and non-elementary graduates at zero (from -1).