LUZON, Philippines --
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines’ ranking in the global Human Development Index (HDI) has not changed while its neighbors have moved forward, according to a report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
In a UNDP presentation at the Edsa Shangri-La hotel in Mandaluyong City Monday, professor Arsenio Balisacan said the 2009 Human Development Report (HDR) showed that the Philippines ranked 105th out of 182 countries covered by the report that was based on 2007 data.
“The Philippines showed a slight increase in the value of its (HDI) and ranked 105th among 182 countries… This places the Philippines in the medium human development bracket [of countries],” said Balisacan, president of the Human Development Network.
“Earlier comparators of the Philippines in Asia show these countries have moved up faster in the rankings,” he said.
Malaysia was ranked 66th and entered the high human development bracket in 2008, while China has overtaken the Philippines and is now ranked 92nd. China actually made the largest gain in rank, by 7 places, Balisacan said.
Samoa ranks higher than RP
Thailand is now ranked 82nd while the island nation of Samoa is ranked 94th, several levels better than the Philippines. In 1990, Samoa and Thailand had similar HDI values compared to the Philippines. But between 1990 and 2007, Thailand performed relatively better than the two. On the other hand, Indonesia is now ranked 111th and Vietnam is 116th, Balisacan said.
“The rank of No. 105 puts the Philippines in the league of Fiji and Tonga in so far as Asian countries are concerned. Globally, this ranking would be comparable to that of Algeria and El Salvador,” he said.
The HDI is a “summary measure” of a country’s human development and since the HDR was first published in 1990, the HDI rankings have provided a way of looking beyond the gross domestic product (GDP) and toward a broader definition of well-being.
The HDI is based on a country’s life expectancy, adult literacy and enrollment in schools and standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity).
Increase in life expectancy
This year’s HDI includes three new countries—Andorra, Liechtenstein and Afghanistan—and was based on 2007 data and does “not reflect the effects of the global economic crisis.”
While the ranking of the Philippines has not changed, its HDI value actually increased by 0.004 mainly due to updated higher estimates of adult literacy and higher estimates of GDP per capita “up by about 8 percent compared to previous values.”
“The improvement in the Philippines’ HDI value is a result of increases in its HDI component indicators, a sign of real and steady progress in human development,” a UNDP statement said.
The progress was also due to the increase in life expectancy in the country. From 61.1 years in 1980, this has gone up to 71.6 years in 2007.
Adult literacy rates (for those 15 and above) also increased from 83.3 percent in 1980 to 93.4 percent in 2007 while the combined gross enrollment ratio improved from 73 percent in 180 to 79.6 percent in 2007.
Also, the GDP per capita increased from $2,774 in 1980 to $3,406 in 2007, the UNDP said.
However, the agency also noted that the Philippines’ 2007 HDI of 0.751 was below the average of 0.770 for East Asia and the Pacific but above the average of 0.868 for medium human development countries.
The life expectancy of Filipinos is below the average of 72.2 years for East Asia and the Pacific. Its GDP per capita is also below the regional average of $5,733.
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