FOUR out of 10 Filipinos are either optimistic that their lives will improve in the next 12 months or will remain the same, the September 14 to 23 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
The survey, which involved 1,500 adult respondents nationwide with a margin of error of ±2.5 percent, showed that 47 percent of Filipinos (from 46 percent in June) are “optimists” or see their lives improving while 40 percent said it will stay the same or “no change” in the next 12 months.
Five percent (unchanged) are pessimists or “see” their lives getting worse while eight percent did not answer.
This resulted in a net personal optimism score (percent of optimists minus percent of pessimists) of +42, which SWS classified as excellent.
SWS classified the net personal scores as “Excellent” if +40 or more; “Very High” if between +30 and +39; “High” if between +20 and +29; “Fair” if between +10 and +19; “Mediocre” if between +1 to +9; “Low” id between –9 and net zero; and “Very Low” if–10 and below.
SWS said the net personal optimism was highest in Luzon at +48 (from +49 in June) followed by Metro Manila at +45 (up from +40), Mindanao at +37 (down from +39) and the Visayas at +31 (up from +27).
It was also highest among college graduates at +47 (down from +50), followed by high school graduates at +43 (unchanged), elementary graduates at +41 (up from +39), and non-elementary graduates at +35 (from +34).
SWS said net personal optimism was also highest among those who said their lives did not change in the last 12 months at 38 percent, followed by the gainers or those who claimed that their lives improved at 37 percent and the losers or those whose lives worsened at 24 percent.
Optimism was also highest among Filipinos who rated their families as poor (59 percent) followed by the not poor (28 percent) and borderline poor (13 percent).
