Social Weather Report | 96% of Filipinos Enter New Year With Hope, the Highest Since Pre-pandemic 2019

By Social Weather Station

The national Social Weather Survey December 8-11, 2023, found 96% of adult Filipinos entering the New Year with hope rather than fear.

This is a point above the 95% in 2022 and the highest since the pre-pandemic 96% in 2019 [Chart 1, Table 1].

On the other hand, 3% will enter the New Year with fear, down by 2 points from 5% in 2022.

Hope for the New Year was 87% when first surveyed by SWS at the end of 2000. It was in the 80s at the end of 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2009. It was in the 90s at the end of 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, and from 2010 to 2023.

98% of those expecting a happy Christmas are entering the New Year with Hope

The December 2023 survey found 73% of adult Filipinos expecting this coming Christmas to be happy (masaya), 6% expecting it to be sad (malungkot), and 21% expecting it to be neither happy nor sad (“SOCIAL WEATHER REPORT | 73% of adult Filipinos expect a happy Christmas, the same as 2022,” 23 December 2023, www.sws.org.ph).

The percentage of those who are entering the New Year with hope rather than fear is higher among those who expected a happy Christmas (98%) and those who expected neither a happy nor sad Christmas (95%) than those who expected a sad Christmas (84%) [Chart 2].

Hope for the coming New Year has always been higher among those who expected a happy Christmas than those who expected a sad Christmas.

Hope for the New Year rises slightly in Metro Manila and Mindanao

Compared to the end of 2022, hope for the coming New Year rose slightly from 93% to 97% in Metro Manila and from 93% to 96% in Mindanao [Chart 3, Table 2].

It stayed at 97% in Balance Luzon, while it fell slightly from 95% to 93% in the Visayas.

Hope for the New Year rises slightly in all educational levels

Compared to the end of 2022, New Year hope rose slightly across educational levels: from 92% to 93% among non-elementary graduates, from 95% to 97% among elementary graduates, from 95% to 96% among junior high school graduates, and from 96% to 98% among college graduates [Chart 4].

Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents

Applying census weights and correctly rounded, 13% of the respondents are from Metro Manila, 45% from Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila), 19% from the Visayas, and 23% from Mindanao [Table 3].

Fifty-two percent are from urban areas, and 48% are from rural areas.

Male and female respondents have a 1-to-1 ratio, and thus, are alternately sampled.

By age group, 12% are youth (18-24), 16% are intermediate youth (25-34), 22% are middle-aged (35-44), 17% are 45 to 54 years old, and 33% are 55 years old and above.

By education, 12% had at most some elementary education, 25% either finished elementary or had some high school education, 32% either finished junior high school or had some vocational schooling, 20% either had some senior high school, finished senior high school, completed vocational school, or attended some college, and 11% either graduated from college or took post-graduate studies.

Survey background

The Fourth Quarter 2023 Social Weather Survey was conducted from December 8 to 11, 2023, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon (or Luzon outside Metro Manila), the Visayas, and Mindanao. Face-to-face is the standard interviewing method for Social Weather Stations; the only exceptions were early in the pandemic when movement restrictions made face-to-face impossible and mobile phone interviews were conducted. Normal face-to-face field operations resumed in November 2020. The sampling error margins are ±2.8% for national percentages, and ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

The area estimates were weighted by the Philippine Statistics Authority medium-population projections for 2023 to obtain the national estimates.

The survey items reported here are non-commissioned. They are included on SWS’s initiative and released as a public service.

The exact phrasing of the survey questions (the source language is Filipino; English translation included) was:

“Ang darating na taon ba ay inyong sasalubungin nang may pag-asa o may pangamba? (SASALUBUNGIN ANG DARATING NA TAON NANG MAY PAG-ASA; SASALUBUNGIN ANG DARATING NA TAON NANG MAY PANGAMBA) [Is it with hopes or with fears that you enter the coming year? (ENTER THE COMING YEAR WITH HOPE; ENTER THE COMING YEAR WITH FEAR)].”

This question was patterned after the polls conducted annually since 1991 by the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach (www.ifd-allensbach.de), a pioneer opinion research institute in Europe.

SWS employs its own staff for questionnaire design, sampling, fieldwork, data processing, and analysis and does not outsource any of its survey operations. This report was prepared by Leo Laroza, with special tabulations by Joanne Evangelista and Michael Laxamana.

Chart 1