Filipinos ‘optimistic’ their lives will improve in 2010 - survey
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 04/10/2009 2:29 PM
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Many Filipinos are feeling the tough times but more and more are “optimistic” that 2010 will bring better times, according to the results of a Pulse Asia survey.
Half of the 1,200 Filipinos surveyed in February feel that their “personal quality of life” is worse now compared to last year. It’s an improvement compared to results of the July 2008, when three in every four Filipinos said life was worse.
They feel that it will even get better in 2010, the survey said. In July, only 12 percent of those surveyed were “optimistic” that the next 12 months will be “better than now.” In February, the percentage improved to 29 percent.
The “pessimists” also went down from 64 percent to 35 percent during the same period.
Residents in Luzon are more optimistic than those in the Visayas and Mindanao, however. According to the survey, 37 percent and 36 percent of respondents in the National Capital Region and Balance Luzon, respectively, feel that their quality of life will get better in 2010
In comparison, only 19 percent and 20 percent of the respondents in the Visayas and Mindanao, respectively, feel the same.
Pulse Asia also noted growing hopes among Filipinos who didn’t go to college. While they remain to be the most “pessimistic,” the percentages are down up to 16 points. In July 2008, seven in every ten survey respondents under the category “no formal educ/elem grad.” The February survey shows that 4 in 10 see no hopes that the next 12 months will bring better times.
The survey did not ask what made them optimistic or pessimistic.
Among the top news stories prior in February were the "Alabang boys" scandal, the World Bank blacklisting controversy, the planned automation of the May 2010 elections, and the revival of Charter change initiatives.
Pulse Asia’s nationwide survey was conducted from February 2 to 15, 2009.
The survey had a sample size of 1,200 respondents, and a margin of error of ± 3.
