SWS: Quality of life dips for 5 in 10 Filipinos

MANILA, Philippines — Five out of 10 Filipinos said their quality of life became worse over the past 12 months, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Wednesday.

The survey, which was conducted from March 24 to March 31, found that 50 percent of respondents said their quality of life worsened compared to the past 12 months (termed by SWS as losers), while 23 percent said it got better (gainers) and 26 percent said it stayed the same (unchanged).

This resulted in a net gainers’ score (percentage of gainers minus percentage of losers) of -26, which is classified by SWS as low. This score was 19 points down from -7 (fair) in November 2025, following a decline from +12 (very fair) in June 2025 and -2 (fair) in September 2025.

READ: SWS: 44% of Filipinos expect better quality of life in 2026

The net gainers score (-26) in the March 2026 survey is the lowest in over four years, since the extremely low -44 recorded in September 2021.

By area, Mindanao and Metro Manila recorded the lowest net gainers score, both at -31 (very low), followed by the Visayas with -25 (low) and Luzon outside Metro Manila with -23 (low).

Classification system

Based on the SWS classification system, the grade of “excellent” is applied to net gainers scores of +20 and above; “very high” for scores between +10 and +19; “high” for scores between +1 and +9; “fair” for scores between 0 and -9; “mediocre” for scores between -10 and -19; “low” for scores between -20 and -29; “very low” for scores at -30 and -39; “extremely low” for scores at -40 to -49; and “catastrophic” for scores -50 and below.

The survey used face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults and had sampling error margins of plus-or-minus 3 percent for national percentages, plus-or-minus 4 percent for Luzon outside Metro Manila, and plus-or-minus 6 percent each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao. —Inquirer Research /atm