NEARLY 50 percent (49 percent) of adult Filipinos believe their lives will improve in the next six months, as shown in the latest OCTA Research "Tugon ng Masa" survey on optimism and pessimism about the country's economy and quality of life.

The survey was for the last quarter of 2023.

"About 49 percent of adult Filipinos believe that their quality of life will improve over the next six months. Meanwhile, about 45 percent believe that their quality of life will stay the same, and only 4 percent think that it will worsen," OCTA Research said.

In Metro Manila, 54 percent of the respondents said they believed their lives would improve.

Optimism was highest in the Visayas, with 58 percent of respondents saying they believed their lives would improve. This was followed by 49 percent in Balance Luzon and 40 percent in Mindanao.

On the other hand, the percentage of respondents who believed their life would be worse (pessimism) was highest in Mindanao at 10 percent. This was followed by Metro Manila at 3 percent, Visayas at 2 percent and Balance Luzon at 1 percent.

"In terms of socioeconomic classes, the lowest percentage of adult Filipinos who believe that their quality of life will improve over the next six months is observed in Class E (35percent), while the highest percentage of those who said that their quality of life will improve also came from Class E at 8percent," OCTA Research said.

"Class ABC had the highest percentage of those who said that their quality of life will be better in the next six months (56 percent)," it added.

Meanwhile, 38 percent of the respondents said they believed the country's economy would improve in the next six months.

"This is the first time in three quarters that a recovery in this data point was observed," OCTA Research said.

"Additionally, 51 percent think that the economy will remain the same, while 8 percent believe it will become worse."

In Metro Manila, 45 percent of respondents believed the economy would improve.

The percentage was higher in the Visayas, with 53 percent of respondents saying they believed the economy would improve in the next several months.

Thirty-seven percent of respondents from the Visayas believed the economy would remain the same, while 8 percent believed it would worsen.

In Mindanao, 36 percent of respondents believed the economy would improve. Half of the respondents from Mindanao believed the economy would remain the same, while 13 percent believed it would worsen.

In Balance Luzon, 30 percent of respondents believed the economy would improve. More respondents here (59 percent) believed it would remain the same, while 7 percent believed it would be worse.

"In terms of socioeconomic classes, the highest percentage of adult Filipinos who believe that the Philippine economy will improve over the next six months is in Class ABC (51 percent)," OCTA said.

"In contrast, the highest percentage of adult Filipinos who think that the Philippine economy will worsen over the next six months is in Class E (12 percent)," it said.

The survey, conducted from December 10 to 14, had 1,200 adult respondents interviewed face to face.