Outline For Country Landscape
Outline For Country Landscape
Outline For Country Landscape
Philippines, comprised of a total of 7,641 islands, divided into 3 main island groups
namely, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. With a total population of 106,512,074 as of
2018.
The Philippines’ annual population growth rate is 1.5% and its fertility rate 2.9, both in
decline (UNESCAP 2016).
The Head of State is President Rodrigo Roa Duterte elected last 2016 national elections
and is expected to lead the Government until year 2022 (term: 2016- 2022).
FHP has been working on different areas and communities in Metro Manila (Navotas
and Malabon), Bulacan (Norzagaray and San Jose, del Monte), Camarines Norte, Bicol
(Clusters 1&2), Western Samar ( Marabut and Basey Clusters) and Leyte ( La Paz).
There were more families headed by Males as compared by Females, the 2017 APIS
survey showed that 77% of the families were headed by Males and 23% were Female.
Female family heads were generally older than their Male counterparts.
Twenty-six percent (26%) or about one in four family heads had at least completed high
school education. In detail, about 14% attended/finished post-secondary education or
reached college but did not finish it, and only 13% completed college or higher level of
education.
Survey showed that higher proportion of female heads had at least reached college level
as compared to their male counterpart. Two in every ten female heads (20%) were
college graduate or higher compared with 1 in 10 (11%) among male heads.
The Philippine economy grew by 6.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018 however
reported lower GDP than that of the 1st Quarter with 6.6%. Services had the fastest
growth by 6.9 percent, followed by Industry at 6.2 percent, AHFF (Agriculture, Hunting,
Forestry and Fisheries) declined by 0.4%.
Although the Philippine economy continues to grow, around 22 million Filipinos or one-
fifth of the country's population still live below the national poverty line.
Latest data from the World Bank showed poverty in recent years did decline, with 21.6%
of Filipinos living below the poverty line in 2015, compared to 26.6% in 2006.
This decline was mainly due to the expansion of jobs outside of agriculture, the
government's Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), and remittances from
Filipinos abroad. (source: Rappler and Worldbank)
Urban Context
Approximately 2.9 million Filipinos changed residence between 2005 and 2010. 50.4%
were long distance movers (had changed province), 45.4 % were short distance movers
(had changed city), and 4.2 % were international immigrants (Philippines Statistics
Authority 2012).
The Philippines has undergone rapid urbanization which continues to this day. From
2000- 2010 the urban population increased at an annual average of 3.3%, making it one
of the fastest urbanizing countries in the Asia-Pacific.
The main destination for long-distance movers is CALABARZON, which absorbs 27.7% of
them, followed by Metro Manila (19.7%) and Central Luzon (13%) (Philippines Statistics
Authority 2012).
The high volume of migrants to cities has strained housing, infrastructure, and basic
services in major cities. As a result, informal settlements have proliferated: the number
of informal settlers in the Philippines has increased from 4.1% of total urban population
in 2003 to 5.4% in 2012, when 2.2 million lived in informal settlements, of which 1.3
million were in Metro Manila alone (World Bank 2017a).
Women in the Philippines have significantly lower employment rates than men,
which in 2012 gave rise to a gender gap of 26.2 percentage points in the
employment rate.
Three in every five (61.9%) of the estimated 40.9 million employed persons in April
2018 were males. Employed females were reported at 38.1 percent of the total
employed persons.
In April 2018, about 27.8 million or 39.1 percent of the total population 15 years old
and over were not in the labor force. These include housewives, students, persons
with disability, and those who have retired from their employment. About 68.3
percent of those not in the labor force was women.
Unemployment rates for women has gone down faster than the rates for men, but
women and girls aged 15-24 are unemployed at rates higher than men and boys.
Unemployment rates for both sexes in the country have gone down from about 1 in
10 in 2000 to about 1 in 20 in 2014.
In the past 6 election years – from 1998 to 2013 – there have always been more men
than women participating and winning the elections, according to data from the
Commission on Elections (Comelec).
In 2013, the percentage of women candidates rose to 17.82%. This means over
36,000 men gunned for seats, while only less than 8,000 women did.
Although there is improvement, such figures reveal stark truths about gender,
governance and employment in the Philippines.
Religion Context
The country is considered the only Christian nation all over Asia.
Religions: Catholic 82.9% (Roman Catholic 80.9%, Aglipayan 2%), Muslim 5%,
Evangelical 2.8%, Iglesia ni Kristo 2.3%, other Christian 4.5%, other 1.8%, unspecified
0.6%, none 0.1% (2000 census)
Roman Catholic being the dominant religious affiliation in the country.
Health
Malnutrition
3 in every 10 Filipino children under age five have stunted growth (about 3.8
million) in 2015.
Childhood stunting causes more than 1.9 billion USD in future adult productivity
losses in the Philippines.
Stunting Prevalence is higher in rural areas than in urban areas, with 28% and
38% respectively.
There are 7% children with low weight relative to their height or wasted children.
Prevalence of stunting is more evident in Male children (8%) than female (6%).
As expected, the highest prevalences of underweight, stunting and wasting are
among those in the rural areas (22.6%, 35.0%, and 8.1% respectively), and in the
poorest quintile (29.8%, 44.8% and 9.5% respectively).
Among the regions, the top 3 with the highest undernutrition prevalences are:
for underweight – MIMAROPA (27.5%), W. Visayas (25.9%) and Bicol (24.6%);
for stunting – Bicol (39.8%), ARMM (39%) and Zamboanga Peninsula (38.7%); for
wasting/ thinness – MIMAROPA (9.8%), Ilocos Region (9.8%), and W. Visayas
(8.9%). (FNRI-DOST, 2015)
94 out of 100 pregnant women received antenatal care (ANC) from a skilled
provider such as a midwife (50%), doctor (39%), or nurse (4%). Three percent of
women received no ANC.
Women with higher levels of education and those from the wealthiest
households are most likely to receive ANC from a skilled provider.
The timing and quality of ANC are also important. Seven in ten women have their
first ANC visit in the first trimester, as recommended. Eighty-seven percent of
women make four or more ANC visits.
Vaccination Coverage
70% of children aged 12-24 months received all basic vaccinations of BCG, 3
doses of DPT, 3 doses of OPV or IPV, and 1 dose of measles.
Basic vaccination coverage is slightly higher in urban areas than rural areas 75%
and 66%, respectively.
Basic vaccination coverage has fluctuated over time, rising from 72% in 1993 to
80% in 2008 and then decreasing to 70% in 2017.
Childhood Illness
Family Planning
54% of married women use a method of family Planning. Two in five married
women use a modern method of family planning.
The most common modern family planning method used was pills (21%), and
female sterilization (7%).
Among married women, use of modern contraceptive methods of family planning
is higher in rural areas than in urban with 42% and 38%, respectively.
Livelihood
The minimum wage rate in NCR for non-agriculture workers as of November 2018
was between PHP 500.00 to PHP 537.00, while PHP 500.00 for Agriculture workers.
In Region III, the daily minimum wage rate was around PHP 339.00- 400.00 (non-
agriculture) and PHP 312.00- 370.00 (Agriculture workers)
For the rest of the provinces in the country, the daily minimum wage rate ranges
from PHP 280.00- 400.00 for non-agriculture workers and PHP 270.00-368.00 for
agriculture workers.
The total population of 15 years old and above was estimated at 71 million wherein
the number of persons who were in the labor force was 43.3 million.
Employment rate was recorded at 94.5 %, 18% of these persons are underemployed
and the remaining 5.3% were unemployed.
Employed persons were grouped into three broad sectors namely: Agriculture,
industry and services sector. Among these, 56.4% of the total employed are workers
from the services sector, followed by the second largest group; the agriculture sector
with 23.9% and lastly, workers in the industry sector which only comprises of 19.7%.
Of the total employed persons in April 2018, 68.0 percent were full-time workers,
while 31.0 percent were part-time workers. That with a job but not at work or
home-based workers was accounted at 1.1 percent.
Education
Literacy
Basic Literacy – ability of a person to read and write and unserstand a simple message or dialect
In 2013, 96.5 percent of 74 million Filipinos age 10 years and over were basically
literate. The proportion of basically literate females was higher (97.0%) than
their male counterparts (96.1%).
The basic literacy rate in 2013 (96.5%) represents an improvement from 95.6
percent recorded in 2008.
Among the regions, NCR (99.5%), Ilocos (98.2%), Cagayan Valley (97.9%), Central
Luzon (98.2%), and CALABARZON (98.4%) posted basic literacy rate higher than
the national figure (96.5%). ARMM had the lowest literacy rate with 86.1 percent
along with SOCCSKSARGEN (90.8%).
Functional Literacy - ability to read, write and to perform basic mathematical calculations
Among the 69 million population with age 10 to 64 years old. Nine out of ten
Filipinos were functionally literate (90.3%). The functional literacy rate among
females (92.0%) was higher than among males (88.7%).
Majority of regions in Luzon posted functional literacy rates higher than the
national average. Northern Mindanao had the highest functional literacy rate
(94.0%) among regions of Mindanao. ARMM had the lowest functional literacy
rate (72.1%).
The Philippines is situated along a highly seismic area lying along the PACIFIC RING OF
FIRE where two major tectonic plates (Philippine Sea and Eurasian) meet and is highly-
prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This explains the occurrence of
earthquakes and tsunamis and the existence of around 300 volcanoes of which 22 are
active.
In the past 20 years, 31,835 Filipinos have reported been killed and 94,369,462 people
have been affected by disasters.
As a national average, Filipinos were divided with 31 percent saying they were only
slightly prepared or not at all prepared to respond to a disaster in the near future. 33
percent felt somewhat prepared, and 36 percent felt they were very prepared.
Respondents who live in the regions most impacted by typhoons also cited the highest
levels of preparedness. Only 32 percent of people living in the National Capital Region
felt very prepared, with 39 percent in Cagayan, 49 percent in Bicol, 44 percent in
Western Visayas, and 52 percent in Eastern Visayas reporting high levels of
preparedness (these are some of the regions most often impacted by typhoons). Thirty-
one percent in Northern Mindanao and 41 percent in Central Visayas were the lowest
levels of preparedness cited across the regions
When asked how well they were prepared for a disaster early warning, 40 percent of
Filipinos felt very prepared and 83 percent of Filipinos claimed to have discussed
emergency plans with their families.
The Philippines developed the national disaster risk reduction and management plan
(NDRRMP) 2011 to 2028 to address the disaster resilience of the country.