ALMOST 50 percent of adult respondents to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey said their quality of life worsened in the past 12 months.
It should be noted, however, that the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic crushed the economy in the past 12 months.
The survey was conducted by SWS from June 23 to 26, 2021 among 1,200 adult Filipinos
It showed that 49 percent believed their quality of life was worse (termed by SWS as losers) as compared to a year, 18 percent said it got better (gainers) and 33 percent answered it has not changed.
The resulting net gainers score is -31 (percentage gainers minus percentage losers), classified by SWS as very low (-39 to -30).
The SWS said that compared to May 2021, gainers eased from catastrophic to very low level in Metro Manila and in very low balance in Luzon.
In the Visayas, the gainers went down to extremely low from very low while those in Mindanao decreased to very low from low.
The same survey showed that 37 percent of respondents believed their quality of life will improve while seven percent said it will get even worse and 42 percent are seeing no change in the next 12 months.
Meanwhile, the percentage of Filipinos who believe they are poor decreased by one percentage point to 48 percent in May 2021.
The survey also said 23 percent rated themselves as not poor while 29 percent said they were at the borderline of the two categories.
The SWS said the proportion of families feeling poor increased in the Visayas to 70 percent from 56 percent.
Sampling error margins are ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo / SunStar Philippines)