94% greet 2014 with hope

MANILA, Philippines - A majority of Filipinos are welcoming the New Year with hope despite a series of disasters that hit the country this year, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

The SWS in its Fourth Quarter poll said that 94 percent of Filipinos are hopeful for the coming year, slightly higher than last year’s 92 percent.

 The survey, conducted from Dec. 11 to 16, found nine in 10 Filipinos would welcome the New Year with hope rather than fear.

This is the second highest level since the all-time high of 95 percent achieved in 2002 and 2011, the pollster said.

As in previous years, SWS said hope remained widespread in all areas, including the Visayas which was hit by a super typhoon and a powerful quake. But hopefulness dipped in Metro Manila.

 In the rest of Luzon, 97 percent will welcome 2014 with hope rather than fear – a record-high for the area.

 Ninety-two percent of the people in Mindanao will welcome 2014 with hope, seven points higher than in 2012.

 In the Visayas, 93 percent will enter the New Year with hope rather than fear, unchanged from last year.

Hopefulness in the National Capital Region (NCR) slightly dropped to 91 percent from 93 percent last year.

Those who will enter the New Year with fear in NCR increased to nine percent in 2013, up from six percent in 2012.

 The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,550 adults nationwide.

 The poll question on hope versus fear about the New Year was patterned after the polls conducted annually by Allensbach Institute, one of the most well-known and respected opinion and market research institutes in Germany.

 In Germany, those expressing New Year hope ranged from a low of 31 percent to a high of 58 percent between 1990 and 2012, the SWS said.