30% of Pinoys say quality of life got better in past 12 months but 29% say it was worse —SWS

Thirty-percent of Filipinos view their quality of life as having gotten better than a year ago, according to a  recent survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS). 

Twenty-nine percent on the other hand said their quality of life got worse, while 41% said it was the same, results of the SWS survey done from September 29-November 2, 2022 showed.

This resulted in a net gainers score of zero (39% "gainers" or those who viewed their quality of life to have gotten better, minus 29% "losers" or those who said otherwise, correctly rounded.)

The net gainers score of zero is regarded by SWS as "fair" (-9 to zero).

Such score is a slight improvement from the fair -2 net gainer score in June and April 2022, SWS added.

However, it is 18 points below the very high +18 net gainer score in December 2019 before the pandemic.

Compared to June 2022, net gainers rose from high to excellent among college graduates, up by 18 points from +2 to +20.

It stayed high among junior high school graduates, up by 2 points from +3 to +5, while it fell from fair to mediocre among elementary graduates, down by 5 points from -7 to -12. It rose from mediocre to fair among non-elementary graduates, up by 4 points from -12 to -8.

The October 2022 survey also found that 49% of Filipino families rated themselves as poor, 29% classified themselves as borderline (by placing themselves on a horizontal line dividing poor and not poor), and 21% identified themselves as not poor.

"The self-rated poor are those who belong to households whose heads rated their family as poor or mahirap. This status is then adopted for all members of the household," SWS said. 

"The net gainers score has been historically lower among the poor than among the borderline poor and not poor. This means the poor have more losers and fewer gainers than the borderline poor and not poor," it added.

Net gainers was a fair -9 among the poor, compared to the high +6 among the borderline poor and the very high +14 among the not poor.

This rose from mediocre to fair among the poor, up slightly from -11 to -9. It remained fair among the borderline poor, moving from +8 to +6, while it rose from high to very high among the not poor, up from +6 to +14. 

Respondents to the survey were asked this question: “Kung ikukumpara ang uri ng inyong kasalukuyang pamumuhay sa nakaraang 12 buwan, masasabi ba ninyo na ang uri ng inyong pamumuhay ay MAS MABUTI KAYSA NOON, KAPAREHO NG DATI, o MAS MASAMA KAYSA NOON? [Comparing your quality of life these days to how it was 12 months ago, would you say that your quality of life is BETTER NOW THAN BEFORE, SAME AS BEFORE, or WORSE NOW THAN BEFORE?]”

"The net gainers score was generally negative until 2015 when it rose to positive numbers until the drastic deterioration beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. It has since trended back upwards but still has not reached the positive range," SWS said.

The survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults nationwide, with 300 respondents each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao, and 600 respondents in Balance Luzon.

"The sampling error margins are ±2.5% for national percentages, ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao, and ±4.0% for Balance Luzon," SWS said. —with Sherylin Untalan/KG/VBL, GMA Integrated News