A sharp deterioration in how Filipinos assess their own lives pushed a key Social Weather Stations index to its worst reading in nearly five years, with half of all adult respondents saying their quality of life had gotten worse over the past year.
The March 2026 SWS survey, which covered 1,500 adults from March 24 to 31, recorded a net well-being score of –26, classified as “low.” The figure marks a steep 19-point fall from –7 in November 2025 and sits 18 points below last year’s full-year average of –8.
The last time the indicator was this low was September 2021, when COVID-19 restrictions were still choking everyday life and the score reached –44, rated “extremely low.”
The survey was conducted during a period when household budgets were under sustained pressure from elevated rice prices, transport costs, and inflation — compounded by fuel price increases driven by the ongoing US-led war in the Middle East.
Of those surveyed, 50% reported being worse off than a year ago, while only 23% felt they had improved their standing. The remaining 26% said their situation was unchanged.
Younger Filipinos saw steepest drop
The most dramatic single-group swing came from adults aged 18 to 24, whose score collapsed 35 points — from a strong +31 in November 2025 to –4 in March 2026. Filipinos aged 45 and older fared even more poorly in absolute terms, recording scores between –38 and –39, placing them in “very low” territory.
Among education groups, those who did not complete elementary school saw the largest slide, falling 35 points to –39. College graduates posted a comparatively modest 13-point decline, landing at –19, still categorized as “mediocre.”
All regions, urban-rural divide both worsened
No part of the country was spared. Mindanao registered the most severe regional drop, falling 33 points from +2 to –31. Metro Manila declined 19 points to the same –31 mark, while Balance Luzon fell 16 points to –23 and the Visayas lost 11 points to end at –25.
Urban residents felt the downturn more acutely, posting a 22-point decline to –32, compared to a 15-point fall to –18 among rural respondents. The gender gap was negligible — men fell 20 points and women 19.
Four decades of tracking
SWS has been asking Filipinos the same quality-of-life question since April 1983, having now administered it 164 times. The score spent most of its history in negative territory before turning positive around 2015. The pandemic erased those gains, and while a partial recovery occurred in mid-2023 and again in the latter half of 2024, the November 2025 reading had already begun reversing that rebound before the latest survey confirmed a broader slide.
