The national Social Weather Survey (SWS) of December 10-14, 2022 found 34% of adult Filipinos saying their quality-of-life was better than twelve months before (“Gainers”), 26% saying it got worse (termed by SWS as “Losers”), and 39% saying it was the same (“Unchanged”), compared to a year ago.
The resulting Net Gainers score is +8 (% Gainers minus % Losers), classified by SWS as high (+1 to +9).
The December 2022 Net Gainer score was up from the fair levels of net zero in October 2022 and -2 in June 2022 and April 2022. However, it is still 10 points below the pre-pandemic level of very high +18 in December 2019.
The survey question on the respondents’ assessment of their change in quality-of-life in the past 12 months has been fielded 147 times since April 1983. The Net Gainer 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 recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Very High in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, and Mindanao, Fair in the Visayas
The 8-point rise in the national Net Gainer score between October 2022 and December 2022 was due to increases in all areas, especially in Mindanao.
Compared to October 2022, Net Gainers rose from high to very high in Metro Manila, up by 9 points from +9 to +18.
It also rose from high to very high in Balance Luzon, up by 2 points from +8 to +10.
It rose from mediocre to fair in the Visayas, up by 9 points from -13 to -4.
It rose sharply from mediocre to very high in Mindanao, up by 21 points from -11 to +10.
Very high among college graduates and junior high school graduates, fair among non-elementary graduates and elementary graduates
Compared to October 2022, Net Gainers fell from excellent to very high among college graduates, down by 2 points from +20 to +18.
However, it rose from high to very high among junior high school graduates, up by 8 points from +5 to +13.
SWS: 34% of adult Filipinos say quality-of-life was better
It rose from mediocre to fair among elementary graduates, up by 12 points from -12 to net zero.
It stayed fair among non-elementary graduates, although up by 6 points from -8 to -2.
The December 2022 SWS survey found that 11.8% of Filipino families, or an estimated 3.0 million, experienced involuntary hunger – being hungry and not having anything to eat – at least once in the past three months.
Net Gainers was a very high +10 among the Not Hungry families, compared to the fair -7 among the Overall Hungry, fair -4 among the Moderately Hungry, and low -21 among the Severely Hungry families.
Compared to October 2022, the Net Gainers score rose from high to very high among the Not Hungry families, up from +2 to +10. It rose from mediocre to fair among the Overall Hungry families, up from -17 to -7. It also rose from mediocre to fair among the Moderately Hungry, up from -19 to -4. However, it fell from mediocre to low among the Severely Hungry, down from -11 to -21.
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