The latest Human Development
Index of the Philippines is on 2020, that is 0.710, which is 0.56% lower from
the pre-pandemic HDI of 0.714 in 2019 (UNDP, 2024). The 0.004 decline is relatively
small compared to other severely affected countries like Timor Leste -0.061 and
Afghanistan -0.030. Brunie has the same decline with the Philippines, this
shows comparable resilience despite economic structure difference.
The Human Development Index was
developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that aims to rank
countries based on human development levels. It has three main dimensions such
as Life Expectancy, Education and Income. Life expectancy measures the average lifespan
of a country’s population, which reflects the overall health and well-being of
the population. Education is assessed by examining the two indicators such as
the mean years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and above, and the years expected
for children to enter school. The income on the other hand is measured through
the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, adjusted through the purchasing power
parity (PPP) that reflect the standard of living and economic progress.
Looking at these indicators,
it shows that the life expectancy at birth in the Philippines has been steadily
increasing in which life expectancy reaches 71.92 years as of 2025(Macrotrends,
2025). For the Education, the Philippines faces several challenges. The
literacy rate is around 97% based on the 2020 Census (PSA, 2024) but the completion
rate is only 30.5% at the age of 25 in secondary education and it plunks
further to 24.4% to complete their bachelor’s degree (PBEd, 2023). The
Philippines also ranked last in the reading and second to the last in science
and mathematics based on 2018 PISA assessment.
In terms of income, the
annual average income of a family in 2023 was about 353,250 pesos, and that is 29,435.83
pesos monthly in average. This monthly income will be used to sustain the
household of 4 members based on the 2020 population census, it is also
important to note that the average size of households is decreasing (Balita,
2022).
References
Balita, C.
(2022, March 22). Philippines: Average household size. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1298672/philippines-average-household-size/
Macrotrends.
(2025). Philippines life expectancy 1950-2024. Macrotrends | The Long
Term Perspective on Markets. https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/PHL/philippines/life-expectancy
PBEd. (2023). State
of Philippine education report 2023. https://pbed.ph/blogs/47/PBEd/State%20of%20Philippine%20Education%20Report%202023
PSA. (2024, April
5). Education | Philippine Statistics Authority.
https://rssocar.psa.gov.ph/education. https://rssocar.psa.gov.ph/education
UNDP. (2024, March
13). Update of the 2024 Asia-Pacific Regional Human Development Report.
United Nations Development Programme. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2024-04/2024_rhdr_update_-_march_1368.pdf