SWS: 31% say life better, 30% say worse than 12 months ago

Thirty-one percent of Filipino registered voters said their lives got better (gainers) compared to 12 months ago while 30% said theirs got worse (losers), the nationwide survey conducted by Stratbase-SWS from March 15 to 20 showed.

Thirty-eight percent said their lives were unchanged.

The poll showed a net gainers score of +1 (percentage of gainers minus the percentage of losers) which the SWS classified as high although it went down by five points from the score of +6 in February.

Net gainers scores of +1 up to +9 are considered "high" by the SWS.

The respondents were asked, “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 non-commissioned survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,800 registered voters (ages 18 years old and above) nationwide:  300 in Metro Manila, 900 in Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila), 300 in the Visayas, and 300 in Mindanao.

The area estimates were weighted by the Comelec 2025 Project of Precincts data for validated voters to obtain the national estimates.

The sampling error margins are ±2.31% for national percentages, ±3.27% for Balance Luzon, and ±5.66% each for Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.

The net gainers score was "very high" at +13 in both September 2024 and December 2024. It was high at +7 in January 2025. 

SWS said the March 2025 net gainers score of +1 was the lowest since the "fair" -2 in September 2023

"The survey question on the respondents’ assessment of their change in quality of life in the past 12 months has been fielded 159 times since April 1983," SWS said.

"The net gainers score was generally negative until 2015 when it rose to positive numbers until the sharp decline beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns," it added.

"It has since trended back upwards to near-pre-pandemic levels in June 2023 and from June 2024 to December 2024, before it fell to single-digit levels from January 2025 to March 2025," SWS said.