Forty-five percent of adult Filipinos expressed optimism that their quality of life will improve in the next 12 months, a new survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) has found. 

Conducted from March 26 to 29, 2023, the poll also showed that 42% of the 1,200 respondents said their quality of life would stay the same, and 6% said it would worsen. The remaining 7% did not give a response.

This translates to a net personal optimism score of very high +38, which is 6 points below the excellent +44 last December. 

SWS said the 6-point decline was due to decreases in all areas and educational levels.

“The survey question on the respondents’ prediction of their quality of life change over the next 12 months has been fielded 148 times since April 1984,” SWS said.

“Out of the 148 surveys, the net personal optimism score was negative only 11 times, reaching a historic low of -19 in May 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. It has since trended back upwards to pre-pandemic levels.”

SWS interviewed 1,200 adults for this survey: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. 

The survey had sampling error margins of ±2.8% for national percentages and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.