Many Filipinos see importance of religion in their lives – SWS

April 12, 2020

As the country ended the observance of the Lenten season, many adult Filipinos said religion is very important in their lives, an independent pollster said on Sunday.

Based on the Social Weather Stations survey conducted on December 13 to 16, 2019, 83 percent of Filipinos said religion is very important for them while seven percent said it is somewhat important, three percent said it is not very important and 19 percent said it is not important at all.

“The opinion that religion is very important has been dominant in all SWS surveys since December 2015. The latest figure of 83 percent is a new record-high that surpassed the previous record of 82 percent in December 2016,” it said.

The survey also found that 45 percent attend religious services weekly, 32 percent monthly, and 22 percent occasionally while the remaining 0.7 percent said they never attend religious services.

“This brings the 2019 average attendance at religious services to 44 percent weekly, 34 percent monthly, 21 percent occasionally, and 1 percent never,” SWS said.

The survey also found that the proportion of those who frequently experienced stress in daily life is slightly lower at 24 percent among those who attend religious services weekly, compared to the 28 percent who attend religious service monthly, 30 percent among those who attend religious services occasionally, and 45 percent among those who never attend at all.

“The Social Weather Survey items on attendance at religious services and importance of religion were not commissioned. They were done on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service,” it said. Ella Dionisio/DMS