The Philippine archipelago is known to be one of the gems of the world—because of the scenic locations and the natural resources, it’s really one of the best destinations in the world if you’re looking for a vacation. In a recent Expat Annual Survey done by the HSBC Holdings Inc., it was found that the Philippines ranks 24th in countries where it is best to live in and work.
As per their survey, the Philippines ranks 24th which falls just slightly lower than the United States of America (U.S.A) which is 23rd. China, on the other hand, ranks lower at 26th and the United Kingdom (U.K.) at 27th.
HSBC Expat is a wealth management, banking, and currency management services which operate and regulate in a central and stable location.
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Where did HSBC get this data?
This information that HSBC got is based on the responses from more than 18,000 expatriates. An expatriate, just a brief background, is a person who lives and works outside their native country for better rates and a chance to migrate to where they are currently working in.
The 18,000 expatriates from whom they’ve gotten this information from spanned across 163 markets and had three (3) metrics which are: family life, career or profession opportunity, and living (cost of living). These factors are what they talked about although most of these expats were only in countries abroad for a short-term assignment—so they’d rather refer to their stay as an “adventure” than settling for good.
Last year, the Philippines was ranked 26th in this data. A lot of Filipinos might be surprised with these information but in actual reality, they shouldn’t.
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After President Rodrigo Duterte’s Administration put up a lot of different infrastructural projects and initiatives, the country’s reputation has risen spanning from different business factors.
Why the Philippines ranks 24th in the best countries to live and work in?
For all we know, it’s a good thing for a country to send its workers abroad rather than attracting foreigners to work in the country. That’s mainly one of the best reasons why the Philippines ranks 24th among these countries.
Another is the violence—since President Duterte’s term, a lot of criminals either got jailed or rehabilitated which drove the criminal rate drastically. Since this is the case, the reputation of the Philippines of being a safe place rose.
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But the best thing? According to expats, the Philippines is one of the countries where you can relocate and find helpful and friendly people. In addition to that, a lot of them regarded to the type of climate the country has.
As per the report, it’s one of the most famous expat destinations in Southeast Asia because of these factors.
With its tropical climate and steadily growing economy, the Philippines is quickly becoming one of the most popular expat destinations in Southeast Asia.”
The Philippine Economy
If you’re unaware, the economy of the Philippines has grown steadily along with whatever’s happening in the country. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per-capita of the Philippines was recorded last at its highest at $3,063 (USD) back in 2018.
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By 2020, it is expected to reach at least $3,277.00. This might be hieroglyphic but the point of the fact is that the average GDP of the country from 1960 until 2018 was just at $1,653.98. So, the per-capita GDP we now know of actually doubled.
The per-capita GDP, just for clarification, is modified by the purchasing power parity (PPP) meaning, more Filipinos are becoming more capable of purchasing goods from the market.
GDP, on the other hand, is defined as the monetary value of every finished goods and services of a country within a given time frame. The GDP is responsible for providing an economic overview of a country—like how an economy is doing (if it’s rising or crashing, etc). It is most often computed and calculated in three (3) ways: production, income, and expenditures.
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The PPP was recorded to have reached $7,599.19 in 2018 which was adequately higher than what we’ve had from 1990 until 2018 at $4,969.71.
Because of a hike in the gross fixes-capital formation or investments in the country, the Philippines is seen to be part of the few rising countries that are prepared enough to grow overall within the next decade.
So does this mean that the Philippines is not a poor country anymore?
The Philippines ranks 24th in the best countries to live and work in but that doesn’t make its citizens rich. The GDP per-capita of the Philippines, since it ranks 24th, is still equal to the 23% of the world’s average which still makes a majority of the citizens in the Philippines poor.
Nevertheless, the results from the expat survey should be thoroughly read and interpreted with caution. The people who took the survey are still more educated and wealthy than the average immigrant.
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Takeaway?
What can we get out of this research is that the Philippines is slowly crawling from its crashed state. Even if we compare it to last year’s data, we still improved one way or another because now, China took our place. Thailand is the current 22nd place holder and we are in actual closeness to how Mexico is doing economically.
But what does it tell us? It tells us that the country is currently improving in all aspects and hopefully, this goes on. What’s important, as per the survey, is that the Philippines is better looking and better in experiences than Mainland China.
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Kidding aside, we cannot still consider the country to be rich—in fact, this research tells us that the country needs a lot more improvements for it to reach top spots like Canada’s 3rd place and Singapore’s 2nd. A lot of improvements in career opportunity, laws, and other things are to be looked at.
Are you interested to see the list of the countries? Well, Switzerland ranks 1st in the list—talk about a lot of greeneries, rich environment, and polite people. Click here to see the list from Expat Explorer.
Do you agree that the country’s economy is booming because of the conspired efforts of the citizens and the highly recognized Philippine government? Are we feeling the improvements that a lot of research companies and economists are talking about?
