UN Says RP's Poorest Provinces "Like Africa"

You could be forgiven for believing, based on this blog, that the Philippines are all drivers and gardeners, shopping malls and supermarkets.

But, of course, it isn't. There's widespread poverty and unemployment in the Philippines and a huge disparity between poor Filipinos and rich Filipinos. (It isn't just expats who go shopping at the malls near our house. In fact, expats make up just a tiny minority of the faces I see at either of them.)

A United Nations-sponsored study released last week indicates that the country's poorest provinces have conditions approximating those in some poor African countries, while the most progressive provinces were on par with Jamaica or Turkmenistan.

The study, with provinces ranked in terms of the UN's Human Development Index (HDI), measures life expectancy, literacy and per capita income. The survey did not rank Metro Manila, where we live, which enjoys a variety of advantages over the provinces, being the seat of the Philippines' political and economic power.

The Top 5 provinces, as ranked by the UN, are Benguet, Laguna, Batanes, Rizal and Cavite. (Two of these provinces are where the plants Shelly works at are located. I learned last week that many of the line workers in these poultry plants are college graduates who simply can't find a job where they can use their college educations. With such an oversupply of labor, it's understandable why the average Filipino laborer makes just a few dollars a day.)

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the HDI "measures an area's living standard not by its visible 'urbanity' -- the growth of factories or commercial centers in a locality -- but by how much the people enjoy 'public goods' like health or education. ... A province may have a high income level but still have low HDI if it doesn't translate into 'investments in health or education.' "

The lowest-ranking provinces had scores on par with the world's poorest countries, including Niger, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad.