Got no date on Valentine’s Day? SWS says Pinoys without love live at record-high

MANILA, Philippines — If you are spending this coming Valentine’s Day alone, then a recent survey would indicate that you’re actually not alone because the number of adult Filipinos without love life is at a record high.

Surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) last November 2020 indicate that while 50 percent of the respondents said that their love life is happy, 31 percent noted that it could be happier, while an astounding 18 percent said that they do not have a love life.

SWS said this 18 percent figure released on Friday — two days before February 14 or Valentine’s Day — supposedly broke their record-high marks ever since they started studying Filipinos’ love lives.

“The latest percentage of those with a very happy love life is the lowest since the 49% in 2014.  On the other hand, the latest percentage of those with no love life is a new all-time high that surpassed the previous record of 14% in 2016, 2017, and 2019,” SWS said in a statement.

“Since 2002, around half of adult Filipinos have a very happy love life, ranging from the record-low 46% in 2004 to the record-high 59% in 2011. Those saying their love life could be happier range from 29% to 44%, while those with no love life range from 9% to 18%,” it added.

SWS also noted that the likelihood of celebrating Valentine’s Day is higher among those with a happy love life: case in point, fifty percent of people who said that they have a happy love life would celebrate Valentine’s Day while only 13 percent among those without love life would spend the day.

“Conversely, 55% of those with no love life would not celebrate Valentine’s Day, compared to 20% among those whose love life could be happier and 22% among those with a very happy love life who also would not celebrate Valentine’s Day,” the polling firm added.

The results were obtained by SWS in its face-to-face surveys done last November 21 to 25, which also revealed that 39 percent of the 1,500 adult respondents would celebrate Valentines’ Day; 31 percent said they are undecided, while 27 percent were firm on not celebrating it.

Among those who would celebrate Valentine’s Day, 45 percent or two in every five Filipino adults would do so by attending religious services.

Another 27 percent would give gifts to their partners or love ones, 25 percent would prepare food for special people in their lives, while 11 percent would opt to send greetings through text or chat applications.

Aside from these data, SWS also noted that the numbers indicate that gender does not matter in terms of perceiving happiness about one’s love life.  Rather, it delves more into a person’s marital state.

According to SWS, 50 percent of both men and women respondents said that they are happy with their love lives, but it is higher among those who are married.  In contrast, happiness lessens among those in live-in situations.

“Married men and married women also have a happier love life than their single and with-live-in-partner counterparts.  The percentage of those with a very happy love life is highest among married men (64%), followed by men with a live-in partner (53%) and single men (22%),” SWS said.

“Those with a very happy love life are also highest among married women (63%), followed by women with a live-in partner (57%) and single women (18%). So, what makes the most difference in the SWS findings is marital status, not whether respondents are men or women,” it added.

SWS also highlighted that people saying that their love life could be happier are higher among those with live-in partners.

“Among men, those saying their love life could be happier are highest among those with a live-in partner (46%), followed by those who are married (33%), and those who are single (18%),” the research group said.

“Among women, those saying their love life could be happier are also highest among those with a live-in partner (42%), followed by those who are married (35%) and those who are single (16%),” it added.

SWS’ face-to-face surveys last November, only the first in 2020 due to restrictions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, interviewed 1,500 adults divided proportionately according to locale: 600 from Balance Luzon and 300 each from Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

SWS said that they maintain sampling error margins are ±2.5% for national percentages, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±6% for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

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