A recent survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed that 47 percent of adult Filipinos are optimistic about their future, believing their lives will improve within the next 12 months. The poll, which ran from September 14 to 23, 2024, shows a notable rise in optimism compared to previous months.
In addition to the 47 percent expressing optimism, 40 percent of respondents indicated that they expect their quality of life to remain the same, while 5 percent foresee a decline. Eight percent of those surveyed were undecided.
SWS emphasized that the net personal optimism score, calculated by subtracting the percentage of pessimists from the optimists, stood at an “excellent” +42. This score marks a slight improvement over June 2024’s +41 and reflects a steady increase from +37 in March 2024.
“The September 2024 Net Personal Optimism score was similar to the excellent +41 in June 2024,” SWS noted. The agency explained that this improvement resulted from slight increases in optimism in Metro Manila and the Visayas, coupled with a minor decline in Mindanao and a stable result in Balance Luzon.
SWS also reported that net optimism remained “excellent” in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon. Meanwhile, optimism in the Visayas rose from “high” to “very high,” and Mindanao maintained its “very high” classification.
The survey also highlighted that 37 percent of adults believe their current quality of life has improved over the past year, whereas 24 percent said it worsened, and 38 percent saw no change.
When it came to self-assessed poverty, 59 percent of families considered themselves poor, 13 percent identified as borderline poor, and 28 percent stated they were not poor. Notably, net personal optimism was highest at +48 among adults from families who do not consider themselves poor, and +47 among those from borderline poor families, compared to +38 among those who classified themselves as poor.
The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,500 respondents: 600 from Balance Luzon, 300 from Metro Manila, 300 from the Visayas, and 300 from Mindanao.
