Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 24) — Three out of four, or 77 percent of adult Filipinos are expecting a happy Christmas this year, a survey from a private pollster showed.
The Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey results issued Saturday said the rating is the highest-recorded since 2003, which was also at 77 percent happiness expectation.
Five percent of the respondents expect this year’s Christmas to be sad, while 18 percent said the holidays would be “neither happy nor sad.”
The SWS first surveyed people’s expectation of a happiest Christmas in 2002, where it got an all-time high score of 82 percent. The results in year 2003 was the second highest, before settling to the 60 level from 2004 to 2013.
In 2014 it reached 71 percent, growing to 72 percent in 2015, and 73 percent in 2016.
Expectations of a happy Christmas were highest among class D at 78 percent, compared to middle-to-upper class ABC at 71 percent.
Happiness expectation was also high in Mindanao, with 84 percent. Visayas and Balance Luzon follow at 80 and 75 percent respectively.
But expectations of a “sad” Christmas stay the same at five percent, still the lowest percentage since 2003’s four percent.
Meanwhile, 81 percent of respondents said it is better to give rather than receive gifts this season. This was up by six points in 2016.
Nineteen percent still believe it is “better to receive” Christmas gifts.
SWS’ survey was conducted from December 8 to 16 in 2017.
The pollster interviewed 1,200 Filipino respondents aged 18 and above, with a sampling margin of ±3 percent for national percentages, and ±6 each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
