SWS: Nearly half of Filipinos believe their lives will improve in 2023

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 30) — A nationwide survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) found that 49% of Filipinos believe their quality of life will improve in the next 12 months.

The poll, conducted from Dec.10-14, 2022, also revealed that 37% of the adult respondents said their lives will remain the same in 2023, while 5% expect it will get worse.

The SWS termed the 49% as “optimists” and the 5% as “pessimists” in its report published Monday.

It said this resulted in a Net Personal Optimism score of 44 which was computed by subtracting the percentage of optimists from pessimists and was classified as “excellent.”

“The December 2022 Net Personal Optimism score was 4 points above the excellent +40 in October 2022,” the SWS said.

The survey firm pointed out that the figure is the highest since the pandemic began, matching the “excellent” 44 score logged in December 2019.

The SWS further noted that the four-point rise in the national Net Personal Optimism score was due to Mindanao climbing from a “very high" 34 to an “excellent” 48 score.

The Net Personal Optimism score remained steady in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon (Luzon areas outside Metro Manila) at “excellent,” while Visayas was at “very high.”

“The survey question on the respondents’ prediction of their quality-of-life change over the next 12 months has been fielded 147 times since April 1984. Out of the 147 surveys, the Net Personal Optimism score was negative only 11 times,” the SWS said.

It reached a historic low of -19 in May 2020 amid the COVID-19 lockdowns and has since trended back upwards to pre-pandemic levels.

Face-to-face interviews were used to poll 1,200 adult Filipinos across the country, according to the SWS.

The sampling error margins are ±2.8% for national percentages, ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.