ECONOMIC IMPROVEMENT REPORT

ANNETTE-KARI MEDALLA

T H E P H I L I P P I N E S“For God, People , Nature and Country”

Wi n t e r, 2 0 1 2 • C l a s s o f 2 0 1 4 • F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n , v i s i t h t t p : / / w w w. k a r i m e d a l l a . w o r d p r e s s . c o m

Country ProfileRepublika ng Pilipinas • The Republic of the PhilippinesThe Republic of the Philippines, commonly referred to as the Philippines, is an NIC located in Southeast Asia. The Phil-ippines is known for her peoples’ tendency to throw “people power” movements. Some of the revolt movements have limited and stopped the Philippines’s economy from progressing and developing.

As an NIC, the Philippines shows great potential through her intelligent, passionate and resourceful people. History has seen that she can develop her economy. At the moment, the Philippines shows multiple signs of under-development as an economy, but maintains other characteristics that exhibit some economic development.

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Areas of Previous ImprovementUnemployment rateThe Philippines’ unemployment rate as of 2009 was 7.5%. When compared with MEDC or LEDC country’s statistics, these numbers place the Philippines right in the middle. The Philippines’s 7% is not perfect, nor is it an ideal number,

but as Hans Rosling once said, it is impor-tant to see where a country has come from. In 2004, just five years before this data was taken, the Philippines’s unem-ployment rate was 11.9%. This is a huge improvement for the Philippines.

The decreasing unemployment rate prom-ises economic growth for the Philippines as more people will be working to de-velop the economy. She can develop her peoples’ income, or money received regu-larly through work, instantly improving an average Filipino’s lifestyle. Generally,

the past few years have shown a promising trend for the Philippines’s GDP. The rate of growth is constantly decreasing now, as seen in the graph. The trend, or pattern seen over time, tells us that the Philippines is able to continue develop-ing her economy and possibly gain more economic strength if the unemployment rate continues decreasing.

Life expectancyThe Philippines shows great results in her life expectancy. This gives it further MEDC qualities. The range of life in order to be an MEDC is 70 years and above, while the range of life in order to fall under the LEDC category is between 40 - 50 years. The Philippines falls under 71.66 years, almost two years older than the minimum age. Since these statistics are based on the lifespan from birth and onwards, the numbers give us a general idea of the status of a country’s health system and available foundations in the country. Swaziland has a low life expectancy of 48.66 while comparably, Greece has a whopping life expectancy of 79.92 years. To put it simply, people in Greece are likely to live more than 30 years longer than people in Swaziland. Note that the life expectancy of 71.66 years indicates that the Philippines is an MEDC in this category and also specifies that the current health system and medical care is paying off.

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Philippines’ life expectancy trail

Unemployment rate history of the Philippines

Areas of Potential ImprovementWe see signs that the Philippines is actually an NIC by the LEDC indicators she falls under. As a country, the following indicators are some areas of potential improvement that the Philippines can work towards.

Literacy ratesThe Philippines’s literacy rate as of 2008 was 95.42%. Since the worldwide consensus states that the ideal literacy rate is 99.99%, this makes the Philippines an LEDC. Moreover, females in the Philippines are more literate than males, with females at 95.83% and males at 95.01%. The difference is not drastic, but evident. This shows a disparity, or inequality, that can be changed. The Philippines should be strongly encouraging its male population to pursue an education. Note that the Philippines’s statis-tics make it an anomaly from other countries. MEDC (i.e. Cuba) and LEDC countries (i.e. Nepal) typically exhibit a trend of higher male literacy rates than fe-males (see tables).

These numbers make the Philippines an NIC and indi-cate that she must improve her education system. She can start by changing the nation’s length of education. The basic education is ten years. Early graduation like this is too early and is not advised. However, the Phil-ippines announced an enhancement to her education by adding two years and fulfilling a basic Filipino education of twelve years. This can be done and will be done by the year 2016. It is a smart first step to improving the country’s literacy. By doing so, the Philippines can accomplish obtaining a better education, a higher GDP growth and increased earnings.

Infant mortality ratesAs of 2011, the Philippines’ infant mortality rate is 19.34 deaths out of 1000 live births. Additionally, out of 1000 live births, 21.84 babies are male births and 16.71 are females. Although the health system and medical care in the Philippines was previously praised in the section Life expectancy, these statistics, especially this disparity between boys and girls, say otherwise about the Philippines’s maternal and medical care. Note that the different achievements and failures of the Philippine health system demonstrate strong NIC characteristics. The health care isn’t perfect and is open to improve-ment.

The Philippines is definitely considered an LEDC if her health is doing poorly but can improve by hitting the core of the problem: the medical attention given to patients. The Philippines can allocate, or distribute, her resources into providing a stronger backbone for her health system. She can focus on properly educating medical students while they’re still at school and contact global health organisations and NGOs such as WHO, the Global Health Council, and UNESCO to ask

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Literacy Rate of the Philippines

Literacy Rate of CubaLiteracy Rate of Nepal

for assistance in improving the health care. Taking this step in improving infant morality and, in the long run, health care, will strengthen the people - the work force - of the Philippines, resulting in further economic development that could push her towards MEDC standards.

And so it goes.

There are many areas where the Philippines can develop her economy and areas where she has already improved and used to her advantage to strengthen her economy. The unemployment rate and life expectancy is helping the Philip-pines’s work force develop and improve her economy. The areas of potential economic development include her literacy rate (education) and infant mortality (health care). The Philippines is currently an NIC, teetering on the edge of the LEDC line, but has the potential to become an MEDC if she focuses on first improving her people’s conditions in order to further develop her economy.

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References

Climate of the Philippines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved Janu-ary 28, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_the_Philippines

Cuba literacy rates - wolfram|alpha. (n.d.). Wolfram|alpha: Computational knowledge engine. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=cuba+literacy+rates (Credited for table screenshots)

Gapminder World. (n.d.). Gapminder: Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view. - Gapminder.org. Re-trieved January 10, 2012, from http://www.gapminder.org/world/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=5.59290322580644;ti=2010$zpv;v=0$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj1jiMAkmq1iMg;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=phAwcNAVuyj2tPLxKvvnNPA;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=8.21;iid=phAwcNAVuyj0XOoBL_n5tAQ;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=CATID0;by=grp$map_x;scale=log;dataMin=295;dataMax=79210$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=19;dataMax=86$map_s;sma=49;smi=2.65$cd;bd=0$inds=;example=75 (Credited for Gapminder graph screenshots)

Hans rosling's new insights on poverty. (n.d.). TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.html

Life expectancy at birth. (n.d.). CIA world factbook. Retrieved January 28, 2012, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html

Nepal literacy rates - wolfram|alpha. (n.d.). Wolfram|alpha: Computational knowledge engine. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=nepal+literacy+rates (Credited for table screenshots)

Our surprising world - philippines. (n.d.). Our surprising world - wonderful photo trip around the world. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://oursurprisingworld.com/category

Padre, J. (n.d.). Briefer on the enhanced k+12 basic education program | Multilingual philippines. Multilingual philippines | Do not leave your language alone. Retrieved January 28, 2012, from http://mlephil.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/briefer-on-the-enhanced-k12-basic-education-program/

Philippines. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 28, 2012, from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines

Philippines. (n.d.). CIA world factbook. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html

Philippines. (n.d.). International human development indicators - UNDP. Retrieved January 12, 2012, from http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/PHL.html

Philippines - wolfram|alpha. (n.d.). Wolfram|alpha: Computational knowledge engine. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Philippines

Philippines unemployment rate 2004 - wolfram|alpha. (n.d.). Wolfram|alpha: Computational knowledge engine. Re-trieved January 28, 2012, from http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=philippines+unemployment+rate+2004 (Credited for graph screen-shots)

WHO | philippines. (n.d.). World health organization. Retrieved January 12, 2012, from www.who.int/countries/phl/en/

This is philippines. (n.d.). deviantART. Retrieved January 29, 2012, from http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=philippines#/d1dspy9

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