Economically it's not, Philippines is the 29th biggest economy in the world. This is equivalent to “Total” GDP. Philippines have good amount of savings.
GDP “per Capita”: it’s around the middle (currently in transition from lower middle class to upper middle class). This is equivalent to the “average” income of the country if you divided it by parts/regions/states that’s why it’s per capita. Current GDP per capita of the Philippines is between 110th and 120th in the world. Therefore, the average income of the country per capita is not good. Perhaps it’s because Metro Manila or NCR is so far the only place in the Philippines with significant/great development so far, whilst the other provinces lack them. Slightly bad but improving due to high GDP growth.
Human Development Index: According to most resources, the Philippines has Medium Human Development. But, it is currently ranked 116th, that is still in the lower middle out of more or less 200 countries and territories.
GINI Coefficient: the GINI coefficient talks about the inequality of all the individuals’ income. The Philippines falls between 40–50 (25–30 being the best and 60–66 being the worst). With 100 million population, this is the reason why you see very rich Filipinos living in mansions and condominiums whilst when you walk just a few steps, you can see desperately poor Filipinos either homeless or living in slums.
These four measurements are most popularly used to compare the development of countries.
Bonus: Infrastructure - Philippines has one of the worst infrastructures in Asia. With this, it is harder to connect the different regions of the Philippines and spread the development. Things are improving now with the present administration, but it needs to be maintained well and continued to fully develop and improve the infrastructure of the Philippines.
There are many more measurements. You can do your own research if you want to get the general average of country’s competitiveness. The more competitive the country is, the more developed it is. But we cannot judge a country’s development by just basing it by one measurement. It gets more difficult if a country has good economical saving and yet has many poor citizens as well (just like the Philippines). With this, the country as a whole is not poor but mismanaged because the wealth is not being equally dispersed to benefit its citizens.
To conclude: The Philippines lies below the very middle which means it is currently lower middle classed. But with the GDP growth and other recognized recent developments of the Philippines, it is transitioning from Stage 1 to Stage 2. Philippines is transitioning from lower to upper middle classed by GDP per capita since it is predicted to reach US$4000+ GDP per capita after a few years.
For someone who answered that the Philippines is 28th of the poorest, I’m not going to say he’s wrong but it depends on the perspective of the judger. For me, 28th poorest is very exaggerated, perhaps the judger only looked at the very negative sides of the Philippines such as the numerous domestic helpers abroad, the slums that consumes the 10% of Metro Manila, and the many beggars and street children on the street. Yes, it looks dramatically saddening but you cannot just judge a country by that. The good things still outweigh the worst. But with 100 million population, you cannot really feel the small or slow improvement that is happening in the country.
For me, averagely the Philippines is between 100–80th poorest in the world (depends on how you perceive it).
With the bad culture of the Philippines like having a one very hardworking and smart family member and the rest are lazy ones and just being dependent on the good one, this will just make the citizens’ development worse. With those uneducated poor people just making babies not having ambitions in their life, the matter will just be worse. With many happy-go-lucky young Filipinos wasting their earned money for nothing just to boast and look rich and reject the concept of saving and investments, the situation of the citizens will not improve. With a corrupt and greedy government and businessmen as well, the Philippines will not develop to a real development.
Out of 100 million Filipinos, 75% are above the poverty line whilst the remaining 25% are below the poverty line. Yes there are more rich and middle classed than desperately poor people. But you have to realize that not all in those 75% are actually doing good. They might have paid homes or shelter, a job, and food to eat, but you cannot guarantee how comfortable they are in their lives especially when you compare it to western or first world standards. They might just be surviving but not saving or earning enough for a comfortable future because of their low wages. Although there are many well-doing middle classed and rich citizens, there are stoll more surviving citizens with only enough for basic needs or sometimes even seasonally lacking them at difficult times.
The culture needs to change. The overall mentality of the citizens needs to change. The government needs to change. If this happens, the Philippines can go experience again its former glory, to be second to Japan again or second richest in Asia or even greater than that. This cannot happen in a span of overnight, this requires a lot of determination, sacrifices, and unity.
The “bahala na or come what may” mentality and “Okay na yan or That’s enough (even though it is substandard)” mentality must cease.
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