MANILA, Philippines — Nearly half of working-age Filipinos expect their quality of life to worsen in the next 12 months, making its net optimism score the worst in survey history, a survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed Tuesday.
Image from the SWS website
The survey, conducted from May 4 to May 10, asked some 4,010 Filipinos aged 15 years old and above what they thought their quality of life would be in the next 12 months.
Forty-three percent expected their life to worsen, while 24% expected it to stay the same. About 24% expected it to improve.
The number of those who expected their lives to worsen (43%), which the SWS tagged as “pessimists,” broke the previous highest record of 34% in March 2005, making it a new peak in the 37-year history of SWS, comprising 135 surveys on the topic, the polling body said.
Meanwhile, the 24% who believed their lives would improve, dubbed by the SWS as “optimists,” is just four points above the record-low of 20% in October 2000 and March 2005.
SWS said that the May 2020 net optimism score, which is at -18, is the worst in survey history, topping the previous record of -13 in October 2000 and March 2005. The score also dropped from +44 in December 2019.
“Net Optimism is rarely negative. Only 12 out of the 135 SWS surveys since 1984 have a score of net zero or lower,” the polling body said.
“Negative ratings in 1984, 2000, and 2005 were associated with political unrest in the late Marcos-era, the impeachment crisis of Joseph Estrada, and the controversial 2004 election of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,” it added.
SWS said the net optimism is the result of low or very low scores in all areas, especially as it reached record-lows in the Visayas and Mindanao at -37 and -32, respectively.
In the Visayas, the score fell from +34 in December 2019 to record-low –37 in May 2020. The previous record was –35 in October 2000.
Meanwhile, SWS said the score in Mindanao plummeted from +45 in December to record-low –32 in May. The previous record was –30 in December 2004.
The SWS survey was conducted using mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in the country.