Background Information

Southeast Asia, located in the western Pacific country
Consists of over 7000 islands
Manila - capital, Luzon - largest island
Named after the king of Spain, Philip the 2nd, when Spain colonized the islands in 1689
Lots of Western cultural influences, under both Spanish and American reign for a long time
English as an official language, and predominantly Roman-Catholic
After a decade of authoritarian rule, in the late 1900s, a People Power movement led a nonviolent uprising, and the Philippines has a democratic government today
Today, the country is divided between extreme wealth and extreme poverty
Lots of resources could build a strong industrial economy, but most of the country relies on agriculture. Problem
Violence is a big problem in certain parts of the country. The Philippines is one of the least safe countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Some of the more dangerous parts include the Sulu archipelago and the Sulu sea, as well as Marawi City in Mindanao.
Because most people in the Philippines either live in extreme wealth, or poverty, just miles away from an urban, clean, or modern area are slums riddled with crime. Residents who live in slums face a lack of healthcare, housing, education, and employment opportunities. Some, especially in Manila, the capital, are run by gangs. There are hundreds of thousands of unregistered guns throughout the country.

The Sulu Archipelago/Sea

The U.S. department of state says that the Sulu Archipelago and Sea is filled with terrorist and armed groups conducting kidnappings for ransoms, bombing and other attacks on foreigners, civilians, security forces, and more. Because government employees must obtain special authorization to travel there, it is difficult to provide emergency services to citizens visiting there. The Sulu Sea boasts beautiful coral reefs, filled with colorful fish and sparkling water. However, along with being a tourist hotspot, it’s also a piracy hotspot. Though the sea is patrolled by the Philippines navy, it is so large that dozens of tourist, cargo and fishing boats are targeted by pirates. Pirates will also kidnap tourists who they believe to be high value. The sea, and the multiple islands populating it are filled with illegal trades and smuggling. Though the government reports low numbers of larger ship robberies, these incidents are severely underreported.

The Republic of The Philippines

Population Pyramid 1990 and 2023

As you can see in the population pyramid of the 1990s, most of the population was condensed in the younger ages and you can clearly see the defined trend of the highest percentage of population being in the younger age range and slowly decreasing as it went up. This shows a youthful population, which in some terms is beneficial but it can indicate a lower expected life expectancy for this country.

In 2023 the graph has significantly changed and the life expectancy of the population has improved but similarly to the first graph, after a specific point the population starts decreasing. The comparison between these two can indicate an increased life expectancy but it is still not what is considered healthy in current standards.

A truly healthy population pyramid is almost rectangular in structure, this means the population of the all the ages is around the same throughout.

Expected Years of Schooling vs. Life Expectancy at Birth (1990-2021(

The scatterplot that compares expected years of schooling vs life expectancy at birth has positive correlation and possibly causation. This might be due to the higher education rate, higher medical staff which leads to better healthcare and longer life expectancy. It might also be the other way where a higher number of expected years of schooling is equivalent to a longer life as the government would not try to waste time (to obtain jobs) for them to study.