At least 93 percent of Filipinos hold hope while expecting the arrival Saturday of 2022, the pandemic making threats with expected crowding for the holiday celebration, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.
The result of the SWS poll, conducted from December 12 to 16, is slightly higher than the 91 percent for the same period last year.
But the 2020 and 2021 poll results are slightly lower than 96 percent recorded in pre-COVID-19 year of 2019.
The 2021 survey also showed that 7 percent of Filipinos will enter the New Year with fear, a figure unchanged from 2020.
The question posed by SWS went in Filipino—the original language used: “Is it with hopes or with fears that you enter the coming year?”
The highest hope rating was recorded in Metro Manila at 95 percent, followed by Balance Luzon and Mindanao at 93 percent and Visayas at 90 percent.
Hope increased in Metro Manila (from 90 percent in 2020 to 95 percent in 2021), Balance Luzon (from 92 percent to 93 percent) and Visayas (from 88 percent to 90 percent), but it stayed at 93 percent in Mindanao.
Hope across all educational groups also increased, with hope among elementary graduates at 90 percent in 2021 from 89 percent in 2020, among junior high school graduates at 94 percent from 92 percent, and among college graduates at 98 percent from 94 percent%.
The December 2021 SWS non-commissioned poll was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,440 individuals aged 18 years old and above nationwide, broken down to 360 individuals each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
The sampling error margins are ±2.6 percent for national percentages, and ±5.2 percent for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.