Metro Manila, Philippines – As 2025 comes to an end, 44 percent of Filipinos expect their quality of life to improve in the coming year, a non-commissioned survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

Based on the poll released on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 38 percent of adult Filipinos believe that their life will remain the same in 2026, while eight percent said it may worsen.

This brought the net personal optimism score to 36 percent, five percentage points lower than the rating in December 2024. It was computed by subtracting the percentage of “optimists” – or those who believe their life will improve in the next 12 months from the percentage of “pessimists” or those who believe otherwise.

Meanwhile, in a separate SWS survey, 29 percent or almost 3 out of 10 Filipinos said their life improved this year, dubbed by the polling firm as “gainers.”

Thirty-six percent of adult Filipinos believed their life has worsened, while 34 percent said it stayed the same.

This brought the net gainers score at negative 7 percent – the lowest since December 2021 or the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rating is derived by subtracting the percentage of those who said their life got better from the percentage of those who believed otherwise.

Both surveys were held on November 24 to 30, with 1,200 respondents each – aged 18 years old and above – and a ±3% margin of error.