Three in 10 Filipinos said their quality of life has deteriorated in the past year, according to the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The March 15–20, 2025 Stratbase-SWS national survey found that 30 percent of registered voters identified themselves as “Losers,” or those whose lives got worse compared to a year ago.
This figure nearly matches the 31 percent who considered themselves “Gainers,” or those whose lives improved, while 38 percent said their quality of life remained unchanged.
While the percentage of respondents who said their lives improved remained nearly the same as in the February SWS survey, the number of those who felt their lives had worsened rose by five points, from 25 percent.
Meanwhile, the share of individuals who said their quality of life stayed the same declined from 43 percent in February.
Regional data showed Net Gainers dropped in most parts of the country, with the Visayas and Mindanao recording the steepest dips at -8 and -5 respectively, both considered “fair.”
Only Metro Manila bucked the trend, improving from -8 to -2. Urban areas saw a significant drop as well, with Net Gainers falling from +5 to -6.
Women also reported more negative experiences. Net Gainers among women fell from +8 in February to net zero in March, while scores among men held steady at +1.
Quality of life perceptions worsened across most age groups, except among the youth aged 18–24, who remained optimistic with a score of +25 — the highest across all brackets.
Education also appeared to play a role: those with college education or some senior high school generally posted higher Net Gainers at +10, though this was a drop from +15 in the previous survey, while respondents with less schooling had more negative outlooks.
They were followed by college graduates at +7, down from +19. Non-elementary graduates remained at a neutral score of zero, slightly down from +1. Those with some junior high school education posted -2, a decline from zero, while junior high school graduates dropped to -5 from +2.
SWS noted that the question on personal quality of life has been fielded 159 times since 1983 and has shown increased positivity only after 2015 — before the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a sharp downturn.
The March survey involved face-to-face interviews with 1,800 registered voters nationwide, with a ±2.31 percent margin of error. (TCSP)
