84% of Pinoys stressed by COVID-19 pandemic

MANILA, Philippines — Most Filipinos continue to experience stress brought by the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, results of the special Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

The survey, conducted from July 3 to 6, found that 86 percent of Filipinos said the COVID-19 pandemic brought them stress—51 percent “great stress,” a slight decline from the 55 percent in May and 35 percent “much stress,” which hardly changed from 34 percent.

Only 14 percent felt “little” to “no stress,” which rose slightly from the 11 percent in May.

SWS used mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interview of 1,555 Filipinos 18 years old and above nationwide.

The proportion of those who experienced “great stress” was higher among families that had experienced involuntary hunger in the past three months at 62 percent compared with families that did not experience hunger at 48 percent.

Those with “great stress” were at 55 percent among those who did not have a job but used to have one and those who never had a job, higher than the 46 percent among those who had jobs.

“Great stress” was highest in Metro Manila and Visayas at 56 percent followed by Luzon outside Metro Manila at 49 percent and Mindanao at 46 percent.

Those who experienced great stress were also highest among junior high school graduates at 58 percent.

The survey had a margin of error of plus-minus 2 percent.

—Inquirer Research