62% of Filipinos say quality of life worsened in past 12 months

As the Philippines continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, 62% of adult Filipinos said their quality of life is worse now compared to 12 months ago, results of a November survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

In a report released Monday, the SWS said 62% of 1,500 adult Filipinos surveyed said their quality of life got worse, 24% said it was unchanged, while 14% said it improved compared to a year ago.

This yields a “Net Gainers score” of -48, classified as “extremely low” by the SWS, though still higher by 28 points than the “catastrophic” -76 recorded in September 2020

The net gainers score is computed by subtracting the percentage of people who said their quality of life improved from the percentage of those who said it got worse.

Net gainers remain ‘catastrophic’ in Metro Manila, Visayas

The SWS said the net gainers score in Metro Manila remained “catastrophic” at -55 in November despite improving from -76 in September.

In the Visayas, the net gainers score also eased to -56 in November from -80 the previous month.

In Balance Luzon, net gainers improved from a “catastrophic” -75 in September to an “extremely low” -43 in November, while the score also improved to -48 in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, the net gainers score eased to an “extremely low” -45 among non-elementary graduates and -43 among college graduates, but remained “catastrophic” among elementary and junior high school graduates at -50 each.

Hunger greater among ‘losers’

The SWS also said hunger was “significantly greater” among “losers” or people who said their quality of life worsened in the past 12 months, compared to “gainers” or those whose lives improved.

“Involuntary hunger was 19% among Losers, compared to 12% among Gainers, and 11% among the Unchanged,” it said.

The SWS added that the net gainers score has been “historically lower” among the poor than among the “borderline poor” and the “not poor.”

Another SWS survey also found that 48% of Filipino families saw themselves as poor in November 2020.

Malacañang said it was saddened by the results but assured Filipinos that the end of the pandemic was near with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. -NB, GMA News