File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines — Filipino adults are split on whether the quality of their lives improved or worsened compared to a year ago, according to the first Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey done under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The survey, conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 and released on Saturday, found 30 percent saying the quality of their lives was better than 12 months ago, or the “gainers,” while 29 percent said it got worse, or the “losers.” Forty-one percent said the quality of their life remained the same.
This resulted in a net gainer score of “fair,” zero, a slight improvement from -2 recorded in June and April. Although it is still 18 points below the prepandemic level of “very high” +18 in December 2019.
The latest survey, which interviewed 1,500 adults nationwide and had error margins of plus-or-minus 2.5 percent for national percentages, plus-or-minus 5.7 percent for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, and plus-or-minus 4 percent for Balance Luzon.
The net gainers score stayed “high” in Metro Manila at +9 in October and up from +6 in June. It was also “high” in Luzon outside Manila at +8 from +5 in the previous quarter while it remained “mediocre” although up by four points from -17 to -13 in Visayas. In Mindanao, it fell four points from “fair” -7 to “mediocre” -11.
Involuntary hunger
Among college graduates, the net gainers score rose from “high” +2 to “excellent” +20, up by 18 points compared to June, while it stayed “high” among junior high school graduates, up by two points from +3 to +5. It fell from “fair” -7 to “mediocre” -12 among elementary graduates, while among nonelementary graduates, it rose from “mediocre” -12 to “fair” -8.
SWS also found that involuntary hunger is significantly higher among losers, at 15.7 percent, than among gainers at 9 percent, and those whose quality of life were unchanged at 9.8 percent.
Among the self-rated poor, the net gainers score rose between June and October, from “mediocre” -11 to “fair” -9. It stayed “fair” among the borderline poor but up from +8 to +6 while it rose from “high” +6 to “very high” +14 among the not poor.