More Filipinos are expecting a “happy” Christmas celebration this year compared to 2021, a new survey from private polling firm Social Weather Stations (SWS) released Friday revealed.
Some 73 percent, or 7 out of 10, adult Filipino respondents in the non-commissioned survey said they anticipate this coming Christmas to be “happy.”
Meanwhile, 7 percent of those surveyed expect it to be “sad,” and 19 percent expect it to be “neither happy nor sad.”
“The 73% expecting a happy Christmas is 8 points above the 65% in 2021, and 23 points above the record-low 50% in 2020. However, it was still 6 points below the pre-pandemic level of 79% in 2019,” the SWS noted.
The pollster added that those expecting a happy Christmas “rose to majorities in all areas.”
It is highest in the Visayas at 78 percent, followed by Mindanao at 75 percent, Balance Luzon at 71 percent, and Metro Manila at 71 percent, SWS said.
The face-to-face survey conducted last December 10 to 14 revealed that 49 percent indicated that Christmas 2022 is happier compared to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
But 28 percent reported it is the same now as before, while 21 percent said Christmas now is not as happy as before.
The SWS’ national survey, released Friday or two days before Christmas, also showed that 61 percent will be attending in-person gatherings with family and friends coming from other homes while 38 percent will not be doing so.
Since the start of the pandemic, coronavirus restrictions have been dramatically eased up this year, with the use of outdoor masks being made optional.
The year also saw the return of more mass gatherings such as in-person classes and yearend parties, which resulted in heavy traffic.
The SWS survey said 84 percent would not be traveling to visit their family and friends this Christmas while 15 percent said they would be traveling.
“This is similar to 2021 when 84% said they would not be traveling to visit their family and friends, and 13% said they would be doing so,” it said.
The expectation of a happy Christmas, the pollster said, was a record-high 82 percent when first surveyed by the firm in 2002.
“It declined to 77% in 2003 and fell to a 62-69% range from 2004 to 2013 before it improved to a 71-79% range from 2014 to 2019. It dropped to a record-low 50% in 2020 before rising to 65% in 2021 and 73% in 2022.”
The SWS survey has a sampling error margin of ±2.5 percent for national percentages and ±5.7 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
