The national Social Weather Survey December 8-11, 2023, found 96% of adult Filipinos entering the New Year with hope rather than fear.
This is a point above the 95% in 2022 and the highest since the pre-pandemic 96% in 2019.
On the other hand, 3% will enter the New Year with fear, down by 2 points from 5% in 2022.
Hope for the New Year was 87% when first surveyed by SWS at the end of 2000. It was in the 80s at the end of 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2009. It was in the 90s at the end of 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, and from 2010 to 2023.
The December 2023 survey found 73% of adult Filipinos expecting this coming Christmas to be happy (masaya), 6% expecting it to be sad (malungkot), and 21% expecting it to be neither happy nor sad.
The percentage of those who are entering the New Year with hope rather than fear is higher among those who expected a happy Christmas (98%) and those who expected neither a happy nor sad Christmas (95%) than those who expected a sad Christmas (84%).
Hope for the coming New Year has always been higher among those who expected a happy Christmas than those who expected a sad Christmas.
Compared to the end of 2022, hope for the coming New Year rose slightly from 93% to 97% in Metro Manila and from 93% to 96% in Mindanao.
It stayed at 97% in Balance Luzon, while it fell slightly from 95% to 93% in the Visayas.
SWS: 96% of Filipinos enter New Year with hope
Compared to the end of 2022, New Year hope rose slightly across educational levels: from 92% to 93% among non-elementary graduates, from 95% to 97% among elementary graduates, from 95% to 96% among junior high school graduates, and from 96% to 98% among college graduates.
Applying census weights and correctly rounded, 13% of the respondents are from Metro Manila, 45% from Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila), 19% from the Visayas, and 23% from Mindanao [Table 3].
Fifty-two percent are from urban areas, and 48% are from rural areas.
Male and female respondents have a 1-to-1 ratio, and thus, are alternately sampled.
By age group, 12% are youth (18-24), 16% are intermediate youth (25-34), 22% are middle-aged (35-44), 17% are 45 to 54 years old, and 33% are 55 years old and above.
By education, 12% had at most some elementary education, 25% either finished elementary or had some high school education, 32% either finished junior high school or had some vocational schooling, 20% either had some senior high school, finished senior high school, completed vocational school, or attended some college, and 11% either graduated from college or took post-graduate studies.
Visit our Facebook page for more news updates.