SWS: 38% of Filipinos feel no changes in their quality of life

FILE PHOTO: The P35 daily wage increase for private sector workers in the National Capital Region or Metro Manila earns criticisms from various labor groups pushing for higher and decent pay for hardworking Filipinos. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — Thirty-eight percent of Filipinos feel no changes in their quality of life compared to 12 months ago, according to a survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The poll also revealed that 37 percent of Filipinos believe their lives improved (gainers) while 24 percent said it worsened (losers).

The survey also found that 22.9 percent of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger, at least once in the past three months.

SWS defined involuntary hunger as being hungry and not having anything to eat.

The survey further indicated that 59 percent of Filipino families consider themselves “poor,” while 13 percent identified as “borderline” (placing themselves between Poor and Not Poor), and 28 percent classified themselves as “not poor.”

READ: SWS: 39% of Filipinos say their lives improved over past year

SWS said the survey was conducted from September 14 to 23 using in-person interviews with 1,500 adults.

It included 600 respondents from Balance Luzon (areas outside Metro Manila) and 300 respondents each from Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Thirteen percent of the respondents were in Metro Manila, 45 percent in Balance Luzon, 19 percent in Visayas, and 23 percent in Mindanao.

Fifty-one percent of the respondents were from urban areas, while 49 percent were from rural areas, the SWS added.

“The sampling error margins are ±2.5% for national percentages, ±4.0% for Balance Luzon, and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao,” the SWS said.