Life Got Worse for Majority of Filipinos, Nears 'Catastrophic' Territory: SWS
Life got worse for the majority of Filipinos, over the past year, Social Weather Survey said Tuesday, with the numbers just one notch above the level that can be considered "catastrophic".
Nearly 6 in 10 adult Filipinos or 57% said their quality of life got worse, classified as "losers" while only 13% said it got better ("winners") compared to a year ago, results of the Sept. 12-16 survey showed. Another 29% said their lives were unchanged compared to a year ago.
Deducting the losers from the gainers, SWS said the net gainers score was -44 or "extremely low" and is worse than the June 2021 net score of -31 classified as "very low." "Extremely low" is the second-lowest classification, just ahead of "catastrophic."
The past year has been marked by surges in COVID-19 infections which led to lockdowns that kept the economy in a recession.
In October, Bloomberg released its COVID-19 Resilience Ranking, which named the Philippines as the "worst place to be" during the pandemic. The country also placed last among 121 countries in the Nikkei Asia COVID-19 Recovery Index.
Net gainers worsened in all areas of the country according to SWS, with Metro Manila classified as "catastrophic" and "extremely low" for the rest of the Philippines.
The non-commissioned survey interviewed 1,200 adults nationwide and has a sampling error margin of ±3% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Earlier this year, President Rodrigo Duterte said he sees life going back to pre-pandemic normal by 2023 if the country reaches its vaccination targets.
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