A survey by Social Weather Stations ( SWS) said 8 out of 10 Filipinos believe their quality of life has declined in the last 12 months, representing the worst pattern in the nearly 4-decade history of the survey.
From May 4 to 10, the SWS conducted a COVID-19 Mobile Survey among Filipinos working age 4,010 (ages 15 and above).
Results released on Thursday, June 18, showed that 83% of respondents believed that their quality of life had deteriorated. Then, 10% believed that their quality of life was the same. And 6% of others believed that their lives had improved compared to a year earlier.
The survey used the term “Losers” for respondents who thought their quality of life was getting worse. “Unchanged” for those who thought it was the same. And “Gainers” for those who thought it was getting better.
Survey Showed The Result Toward the Filipinos’ Life
“The 83% of Losers in May 2020 is a new high in the 37-year sequence of 135 SWS surveys. It was beating the previous record 62% of Losers in June 2008. Gainers’ 6% share is a new all-time low. It is shattering the previous record 9% of Gainers in July 1985,” the SWS said in a statement.
The SWS classified Net Gainers scores according to the following:
- +20 up – “Excellent”
- +10 to +19 – “Very High”
- +1 to +9 – “High”
- -9 to net zero – “Fair”
- -19 to -10 – “Mediocre”
- -29 to -20 – “Low”
- -39 to -30 – “Very Low”
- -40 and below – “Extremely Low”
The SWS said the latest Net Gainers score of -78 (correctly rounded Gainers minus Losers) is also the worst in survey history, breaking the previous record low of -50 in June 2008.
Although Net Gainers were very often negative in survey history, the SWS said May 2020 resulted in negative score. It showed “is a break from the positive trend of the last five years.”
“Of the 20 observations made between March 2015 and December 2019, 19 were positive. Notably, this already accounts for 90 percent of all SWS recorded positive scores,” the press release said.
At the time of the SWS survey, areas in the Philippines were either under an enhanced community quarantine (the strictest lockdown level) or a quarantine for the general community.