30% of Pinoys say life improved —SWS survey

MANILA — Life got better for 30 percent of Filipinos, while 29 percent said it got worse during the past year, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey said over the weekend.

Meanwhile, 41 percent of those surveyed said not much has changed in the quality of life in the past 12 months.

SWS also noted that the net gainers score, which subtracts the percentage of gainers from the percentage of losers, is zero when correctly rounded off.

The survey, done for the first time under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., used face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults aged 18 years old and above nationwide, SWS said.

There were 300 respondents each in Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao, and 600 in Balance Luzon to the survey conducted from September 29 to November 2, the SWS said.

The study asked respondents to compare their quality of life to how it was 12 months ago, and say if it was better, worse, or the same as before.

Those who said life improved were labeled as “gainers” while those who said life got worse were dubbed as “losers.”

According to SWS, hunger was greater among the “losers.”

“The October 2022 survey found that 11.3 percent of Filipino families, or an estimated 2.9 million, experienced involuntary hunger — being hungry and not having anything to eat — at least once in the past three months,” the study said.

Involuntary hunger was 15.7 percent among losers, compared to 9.8 percent among the “unchanged” and nine percent among gainers, it said.

According to SWS, net gainers in Metro Manila and Luzon remained high, while the scores were at mediocre levels in Visayas and Mindanao.

Net gainers also rose from high to excellent among college graduates.

The survey organization said it has been conducting its study measuring Filipinos’ quality of life since April 1983.