The Festival of Lights at the Ayala Triangle Garden in Makati City has been drawing sizable holiday season crowds this year. (GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / INQUIRER)
MANILA, Philippines – Despite the challenges that came this year, most Filipinos are ready to welcome 2023 with hope.
A survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS), conducted from Dec. 10 to 14, showed that 95 percent of 1,200 Filipino respondents are welcoming the new year “with hope rather than fear.”
This, SWS noted, rose from its 91 percent optimism rate in 2021 and drew closer to its pre-pandemic level at 96 percent in 2019.
The number of Filipinos who will enter 2023 with fear, on the other hand, stood at 5 percent – a slight dip from 7 percent in 2020 and 2021, it added.
“Hope for the coming New Year has always been higher among those who expected a happy Christmas than those who expected a sad Christmas,” the SWS also pointed out.
Optimism for the new year rose from 93 to 97 percent in Balance Luzon and climbed from 90 to 95 percent in the Visayas.
It, however, dipped from 95 to 93 percent in Metro Manila and remained steady in Mindanao at 93 percent.
For non-elementary graduates, hope for the year ahead stood at 92 percent – an uptick from 89 percent from the end of 2021. It similarly improved for elementary graduates from 90 to 95 percent.
But hopefulness for 2023 decreased from 98 to 96 percent among college graduates and barely moved from 94 to 95 percent among junior high school graduates.
74% of Filipinos for change
The same SWS survey found that 74 percent of Filipinos are looking to change themselves for the better in 2023, while 20 percent say they would not change anything in their lives.
The rest, however, did not answer the question.
Among those eyeing to improve their lives next year, 31 percent talked about health-related New Year’s resolutions – improving overall health, stopping or lessening drinking and smoking, having a healthier diet, exercising or being more active, having a healthier lifestyle and recovering from illness.
Men were found to be more likely to pursue improvements in their health with 40 percent as compared to women with 21 percent.
Meanwhile, 27 percent of the respondents are hoping to focus on social and behavioral wellness like being more patient, eliminating bad behaviors or habits, self improvement in general, refining behavior or attitude, avoiding stress, improving family relations and being happy.
Thirty-two percent of those more likely to focus on this aspect of personal improvement were women, while 22 percent were men.
“Older respondents tend to focus more on health (38 percent among those 55 years old and above vs 20 percent among the 18 to 24 year olds),” SWS also noted.
Younger respondents, it said, are more inclined to improve on their social and attitudinal wellness with 47 percent among the 18 to 24 year olds and only 22 percent from those 55 years old and above.