49% of Pinoys say their lives got worse in past 12 months —SWS

Nearly half of the adult Filipino population believed that the quality of their lives got worse in the past 12 months, a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) shows.

Conducted from June 23 to 26, the SWS study found that 49% of adult Filipinos are saying their quality-of-life worsened (termed as “losers”) from a year ago.

Meanwhile, 18% are saying it got better (“gainers”), while 33% are saying it was the same (“unchanged”), compared to a year ago.

The resulting net gainers score is -31 (percentage of gainers minus the percentage of losers), classified by SWS as “very low” (-39 to -30).

According to the SWS, the net gainer score is seven points higher from the “very low” -38 in May, but a continuous improvement from the “catastrophic” levels of -78 in May 2020, -72 in July 2020, and -76 in September 2020.

SWS said the second-quarter 2021 survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults -- 18 years old and above -- nationwide, 300 each were from Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

“Sampling error margins are ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao,” SWS said.

The area estimates were weighted by the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2021 to obtain the national estimates, it said.

“The survey items reported here were non-commissioned. They were included on SWS' initiative and released as a public service,” it added. —LBG, GMA News