More Filipinos say life better than in 2021

FILE PHOTO: Commuters onboard public transport in Metro Manila. INQUIRER/RICHARD A. REYES

A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from April 19 to 27 found more Filipinos saying that the quality of their lives was better than it was a year ago.

About one in three, or 32 percent, of the 1,440 respondents said their lives had improved (gainers) over the past 12 months, up from the 24 percent who said the same in December last year.

Thirty-four percent said their lives worsened (losers), down from 40 percent who said the same at the end of 2021. Another 34 percent said their lives were unchanged.

The resulting net gainers score (gainers minus losers) of -2, classified by SWS as “fair,” is a 14-point improvement from “mediocre” -16 in December last year but still 20 points below that prepandemic level of “very high” +18 recorded in December 2019.

Net gainers score went up in all areas between December 2021 and April. It rose to +4 from -11 in Metro Manila, to +1 from -11 in Luzon outside Metro Manila, to -12 from -31 in the Visayas and to -4 from -15 Mindanao.

The survey also found that hunger was significantly higher among losers (15.9 percent) than among gainers (9.2 percent) and among those whose quality of life was unchanged (11.4 percent). The SWS earlier reported that the hunger rate in the country rose to 12.2 percent in April from 11.8 percent in December last year, according to their recent survey.

The SWS used face-to-face interviews and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.6 percent for national percentages and plus-or-minus 5.2 percent for Metro Manila, the Visayas, Mindanao and Luzon outside Metro Manila. —Inquirer Research

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