Fewer Filipinos are hopeful going into the new year

Slightly fewer Filipinos are entering the new year with hope, according to the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results.

In the nationwide survey conducted last Dec. 16 to 19 with 1,440 respondents, 92 percent of Filipinos “are entering 2019 with hope rather than with fear.”

SWS said this was four points below the record-high 96 percent in 2017, and the same as the 92 percent in 2008, 2012, and 2015.

Meanwhile, 8 percent will enter the new year with fear. It is up by four points from 4 percent in 2017.

According to SWS, hope for the new year has always been high, starting at 87 percent when it was first surveyed in 2000.

It went up to 88 percent in 2001, and reached 95 percent in 2002, before easing to 90 percent in 2003, 81 percent in 2004, and 85 percent in 2005.

It ranged from 91 percent to 92 percent from 2006 to 2008, before falling to 89 percent in 2009. It recovered to 93 percent in 2010, and has since then been at 90s levels, reaching as high as 96 percent in 2017.

The four-point decline in the overall hope for the new year from 2017 to 2018 was due to declines in all areas, especially in Visayas.

Hope for the new year fell by 16 points in Visayas, from 95 percent in 2017 to a record-low 79 percent in 2018. It surpassed the previous record-low of 83 percent in 2000 and 2001.

It fell by two points in Metro Manila, from 96 percent in 2017 to 94 percent in 2018, by one point in the rest of Luzon, from 97 percent in 2017 to 96 percent in 2018, and also by one point in Mindanao, from 95 percent in 2017 to 94 percent in 2018.

It fell by seven points in upper-tomiddle class ABC, from 97 percent in 2017 to 90 percent in 2018. This is the lowest since the 88 percent in 2007.

It also fell by four points in class D or “masa,” from 96 percent in 2017 to 92 percent in 2018. This is the same as the 92 percent in 2007, 2008, and 2015.

It declined by three points in class E or the poorest from a record-high 94 percent in 2017 to 91 percent in 2018.