Highest in 12 years: 72% of Pinoys expect happy Christmas – SWS

MANILA, Philippines - Despite calamities that hit the country this year, seven in 10 Filipinos still expect a happy Christmas, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

The SWS poll, taken from Dec. 5 to 8, found 72 percent of adult Filipinos expecting this Christmas to be happy, seven percent were sad and 20 percent neither happy nor sad.

This is the highest Christmas happiness score in 12 years, since the 77 percent in 2003, the SWS noted in its fourth quarter survey.

Malacañang noted the expectation of happiness returned to the 70s level last year after being in the 60s from 2004 to 2013.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement: “May this optimism energize and encourage all of us to truly serve our country and work together so that all Filipinos will experience peace, prosperity and contentment in the year to come.”

In 2014, expectation of a happy Christmas was at 71 percent.

The SWS first surveyed people’s expectation of a happy Christmas in 2002, when it scored an all-time high of 82 percent.

The December 2015 survey also showed a record-high 77 percent saying “It is better to give,” and 20 percent saying “It is better to receive.”

The one-point rise in the expectation of a happy Christmas was due to increases of five points in Metro Manila from 64 percent in 2014 to 69 percent in 2015; five points in the Visayas, 72 percent to 77 percent; and five points in Mindanao, 71 percent to 76 percent, the pollster explained.

However, it declined by two points in Luzon from 72 percent to 70 percent.

Expectation of a happy Christmas rose among the poor or class E from 65 percent in 2014 to 72 percent in 2015, the highest in 22 years since the 75 percent in 2003.

It stayed at 72 percent in class D or the masa (masses) from 2014 to 2015 – still the highest since 78 percent in 2003.

However, it fell by five points in class ABC, from the record-high 81 percent last year to 76 percent in 2015.

Expectation of a happy Christmas is highest among the youth, jumping by eight points among 18-24 years old from 74 to 82 percent – the highest in 22 years since the 82 percent in 2003.

It rose by two points among 25-34 years old, from 72 percent to 74 percent, the highest since 79 percent in 2003.

It also increased by two points among 55 years and above, from 71 percent to 73 percent in 2015 – also the highest in 22 years, since the 78 percent in 2003 for this age group.

Expectation of a happy Christmas stayed at 70 percent among 35-44 years old from 2014 to 2015, still the highest since 73 percent in 2003.

It stayed at 66 percent among 45-54 years old from 2014 to 2015, similar to the 67 percent in 2012.

Expectation of a happy Christmas rose across all education brackets, with college graduates at 80 percent in 2015 from 73 percent last year.

It increased among non-elementary graduates at 75 percent from 69 percent.

Expectation of a happy Christmas also went up among elementary graduates from 72 to 73 percent in 2015.

It rose among high school graduates from 69 to 70 percent in 2014.

The survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide, 300 each in Metro Manila and 900 in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

It has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national percentages and plus or minus six percentage points each for Metro Manila, balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.