At least 30 percent of Filipinos claimed that their quality of life has gotten better than a year ago, according to a survey done by pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS).

Up to 29 percent of the survey’s respondents, however, said their quality of life got worse, while 41% said it was the same.

The result of the SWS survey, the first under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and done from September 29-November 2, was released this week.

The survey question on the respondents’ assessment of their change in quality-of-life in the past 12 months has been fielded 146 times since April 1983.

The Net Gainer score was generally negative until 2015 when it rose to positive numbers until the drastic deterioration beginning with the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. It has since trended back upwards but still has not reached the positive range.

The 2-point rise in the national Net Gainer score between June 2022 and October 2022 was due to increases of 4 points in the Visayas and 3 points in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon, combined with a 4-point decrease in Mindanao.

Compared to June 2022, Net Gainers stayed mediocre in the Visayas, although up by 4 points from -17 to -13. It stayed high in Metro Manila, up by 3 points from +6 to +9. It also stayed high in Balance Luzon, up by 3 points from +5 to +8.

However, it fell from fair to mediocre in Mindanao, down by 4 points from -7 to -11.

Compared to June 2022, Net Gainers rose from high to excellent among college graduates, up by 18 points from +2 to +20. It stayed high among junior high school graduates, up by 2 points from +3 to +5.

It fell from fair to mediocre among elementary graduates, down by 5 points from -7 to -12. It rose from mediocre to fair among non-elementary graduates, up by 4 points from -12 to -8.

The October 2022 survey found that 11.3% of Filipino families, or an estimated 2.9 million, experienced involuntary hunger – being hungry and not having anything to eat – at least once in the past three months.

Hunger is significantly higher among Losers than among Gainers and Unchanged: involuntary hunger was 15.7% (13.2% moderate, 2.5% severe) among Losers, compared to 9.8% (7.5% moderate, 2.3% severe) among the Unchanged and 9.0% (7.4% moderate, 1.6% severe) among Gainers.

Compared to June 2022, Hunger fell from 10.9% among the Unchanged. However, it stayed at 9.0% among Gainers and rose from 14.9% among Losers.

The survey also found 49% of Filipino families rating themselves as Mahirap or Poor, 29% rating themselves as Borderline (by placing themselves on a horizontal line dividing Poor and Not Poor), and 21% rating themselves as Hindi Mahirap or Not Poor.

The Self-Rated Poor are those who belong to households whose heads rated their family as poor or mahirap. This status is then adopted for all members of the household.

The Net Gainers score has been historically lower among the Poor than among the Borderline Poor and Not Poor. This means the Poor have more Losers and fewer Gainers than the Borderline Poor and Not Poor.

Net Gainers was a fair -9 among the Poor, compared to the high +6 among the Borderline Poor and the very high +14 among the Not Poor [Chart 6].

Compared to June 2022, the Net Gainers score rose from mediocre to fair among the Poor, up slightly from -11 to -9. It stayed fair among the Borderline Poor, moving from +8 to +6, while it rose from high to very high among the Not Poor, up from +6 to +14.