SWS: Happiness, satisfaction among Filipinos lowest since 2014
Filipinos' happiness and satisfaction with life fell to the lowest level since 2014, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations released on Sunday.
Conducted on December 16-19, 2018, SWS said the survey found that 87 percent of Filipinos assessed their life in general as “very or fairly happy,” while 82 percent were “very or fairly satisfied.”
When SWS asked 1,440 adults on how happy or unhappy their life in general, 39 percent answered “very happy”, 48 percent said “fairly happy”, 11 percent said they were “not very happy,” and 2 percent said they were “not happy at all”.
“The resulting 'happiness' score of 87 percent is a 7-point decline from the record-high 94 percent in December 2017. This is the lowest in four years, since the 85 percent in December 2014,” said SWS.
“On the other hand, the 'unhappiness' score of 13 percent in December 2018 is the highest since the 15 percent in December 2014,” it added.
Meanwhile, 34 percent of the respondents answered that they were “very satisfied” with their life, while 48 percent said “fairly satisfied”, 14 “not very satisfied”, and 3 percent “not satisfied at all”.
SWS said the new satisfaction with life score of 82 percent was a 10-point decline from the record-high 92 percent in December 2017.
“This is the lowest in over four years, since the 79 percent in September 2014,” it said.
“On the other hand, the dissatisfaction with life score of 18 percent in December 2018 is the highest since the 21 percent in September 2014,” the polling agency said.
At least eight out of 10 in all areas were “happy” and “satisfied” but all figures were lower compared to 2017.
Happiness was highest in Mindanao at 89 percent though down from 96 percent in the previous survey; 89 percent in Visayas from previous 94 percent; followed by Balance Luzon, at 86 percent which was also down from 95 percent in 2017; and Metro Manila at 82 percent from 90 percent.
Unhappiness, on the other hand, was highest in Metro Manila at 17 percent followed by Balance Luzon at 14 percent, Visayas at 11 percent, and Mindanao at 11 percent.
Meanwhile, satisfaction with life was highest in the Visayas, at 83 percent, down from 89 percent last 2017; Balance Luzon at 83 percent from previous 94 percent; followed by Metro Manila at 81 percent from 93 percent; and Mindanao at 80 percent from 91 percent a year ago.
Dissatisfaction with life, on the other hand, was highest in Mindanao, at 20 percent, followed by Metro Manila, at 19 percent, Visayas and Balance Luzon at both 17 percent.
The survey used face-to-face interviews of 360 adults each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao with sampling error margin of ±2.6 percent for national percentages, and ±5 percent each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
The area estimates were weighted by the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2018 to obtain the national estimates. Ella Dionisio/DMS
