A ‘happy’ Christmas 2024? Fewer Filipinos expect it – SWS survey

FILE PHOTO: Locals walk past a lit Christmas display at a park in Pasay City, south of Manila, Philippines on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. Christmas decorations adorn the streets and homes of many Filipinos as this predominantly Roman Catholic country prepare to celebrate the most important and beloved Christmas season. (Associated Press Photo/Aaron Favila)

MANILA, Philippines — Fewer Filipinos expect a “happy” Christmas this year than in 2023, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on December 24.

The SWS said 65 percent of the 2,160 adults it surveyed expect a “happy” Christmas  2024, an 8 percent decrease from the 73 percent it recorded in a similar survey last year.

“It is 15 points above the record-low 50 percent in 2020 but 14 points below the pre-pandemic level of 79 percent in 2019,” the pollster explained.

The SWS likewise said that more Filipinos anticipate a “sad” Christmas this year as the rate increased to 10 percent from the 6 percent recorded in 2023. However, the SWS clarified that this is still below the record high of 15 percent in 2020 or during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The expectation of a sad Christmas was customarily at single-digit levels, ranging from 2 percent to 9 percent. It reached double-digit levels only in 2004, 2009, 2011, 2020, and 2024, ranging from 10 percent to 15 percent,” the survey firm noted.

At 26 percent are people who see neither a happy nor a sad Christmas 2024, according to the SWS.

READ: From vanishing ‘belens’ to pop-ups of polar bears—the changing face of Christmas in the Philippines

SWS survey released December 24, 2024.

SWS poll: What are you most thankful for?

The survey also analyzed how thankful Filipinos are on certain aspects of their life, such as health, family, and job or career, among others.

The polltaker said majority of its adult respondents are thankful for good health, at 47 percent; family, at 25 percent; and “being alive,” at 24 percent.

Others who participated in the survey said they are thankful for their job or career (7 percent); God (7 percent); food (6 percent); coping with daily hardships (5 percent); blessings (4 percent); peace and safety (3 percent); happy life (3 percent); and prosperity (3 percent).

“Obtaining 1 percent were responses related to Surviving an illness or surgery, Having no worries or problems, Education, Financial support, and Lovelife/Spouse,” the SWS added.

READ: What are you thankful for?

“Less than 1 percent  were responses related to House, Friendship/Good relationship, Material things, and Motorcycle/Vehicle, while the rest of the responses consisted of 2 percent.”

“The remaining 2 percent did not give an answer,” it also said.

This SWS survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 2,160 adults — 1,080 in Balance Luzon, and 360 each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao — from December 12 to 18.

The survey had sampling error margins of ±2% for national percentages, ±3% in Balance Luzon, and ±5% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.