SWS: COVID-19 stressed 86% of Pinoys

The COVID-19 crisis continues to give most Filipinos a great deal of stress about half a year into the pandemic, going by the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

Conducted from Sept. 17 to Sept. 20, the noncommissioned survey used mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviews of 1,249 Filipinos 18 years old and above nationwide: 309 in Metro Manila, 328 in Balance Luzon, 300 in the Visayas, and 312 in Mindanao.

SWS found that the pandemic brought stress to 86 percent of Filipinos—with 58 percent who felt “great stress” and 27 percent who felt “much stress,” correctly rounded. The remaining 15 percent felt little or no stress at all.

By regions

“Great stress” increased from 51 percent in a July poll and “much stress” fell from 35 percent.

Metro Manila, deemed the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the Philippines, ranked last among the regions with great stress—dropping to 53 percent from 56 percent in July.

Visayas had the highest proportion at 64 percent, rising from 56 percent; followed by Luzon outside Metro Manila at 58 percent, rising from 49 percent; and Mindanao at 55 percent, rising from 46 percent.

Great stress rose from 62 percent to 69 percent among families that experienced involuntary hunger and from 48 pecent to 53 percent among families that did not experience it, SWS said.

Education, age groups

The survey also noted that great stress prevailed at 58 percent among the employed and unemployed alike—a relative increase from 55 percent among the unemployed last July and 46 percent among respondents who had a job or livelihood.

In terms of education, the proportion of those with great stress was highest among junior high school graduates at 61 percent. It was followed by nonelementary graduates at 59 percent, those with some high school education at 57 percent, those with some college education at 56 percent and college graduates at 55 percent.

The proportion of those with great stress was similar among men (58 percent) and women (57 percent), higher than the 49 percent among men and 52 percent among women in July.

By age group, great stress was lowest among the 55 years old and above at 49 percent.

It was highest among the 45- to 54-year-olds at 62 percent; followed by 25- to 34-year-olds at 61 percent; 18- to 24-year-olds at 60 percent; and 35- to 44-year-olds at 57 percent.

The survey had a sampling margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percent for national percentages, plus-or-minus 6 percent for Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao, and plus-or-minus 5 percent for Luzon outside Metro Manila.

—INQUIRER RESEARCH