Around three of five Filipinos (64 percent) expect a “happy” Christmas, while money, good health and family togetherness top the list of gifts Filipinos “would most like to receive” this year, according to the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

But the Fourth Quarter Social Weather Survey also found an unprecedented 11 percent of respondents saying they expected Christmas to be “sad” and 24 percent saying they expected Christmas to be “neither happy nor sad.”

“The 64 percent expecting a happy 2011 Christmas is five points down from last year, when expectations of a happy Christmas rebounded to 69 percent after being flat at 62 percent to 64 percent from 2004 to 2009,” SWS said in a statement released yesterday.

The percentage of those who expected a sad Christmas increased from 7 percent last year to 11 percent this year, surpassing the “all-time high sadness level” of 10 percent posted in 2004 and 2009, SWS noted.

Open-ended question

To an open-ended question about the gift they would most like to receive this coming Christmas, 52 percent mentioned material gifts, such as money (23 percent), food (8 percent), and house/house and lot (6 percent), while 33 percent mentioned nonmaterial things as good health (17 percent), and family togetherness this Christmas (13 percent).

It was the first time SWS asked the question and respondents were allowed to give only one answer.

Across areas, expectations of a happy Christmas were highest in Mindanao at 69 percent (from 71 percent last year), followed by Luzon outside Metro Manila (64 percent, from last year’s 70 percent), Visayas (61 percent, from last year’s 73 percent) and Metro Manila (60 percent, from last year’s 55 percent).

Across socioeconomic classes, expectations of a happy Christmas were highest among class ABC (74 percent, from last year’s 65 percent), followed by class D (65 percent from last year’s 70 percent), and class E (60 percent, from last year’s 67 percent).

Expectations of a happy Christmas were “about the same” among men (65 percent) and women (63 percent), according to SWS. “However, there are slightly more women (13 percent) than men (10 percent) who expect a sad Christmas this year.”

Expectations of a happy Christmas were higher among younger people, with 67 percent among those aged 18-24 years, 66 percent among those aged 25-34 and 68 percent among those aged 35-44 saying they were expecting a happy Christmas this year. Sixty-three percent among those aged 45-54, and 58 percent aged 55 and older, had the same opinion. Inquirer Research