Philippines ranks second in Asean stat race

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines maintained its position as second in Southeast Asia in the World Bank’s Statistical Performance Indicators (SPI) for 2023.

The latest SPI showed the Philippines’ overall score improved to 85.2 from its 2022 score of 84, showing continued progress in strengthening the country’s statistical capacity.

This placed the Philippines second in Southeast Asia after Singapore, which got an overall score of 88.8.

The World Bank’s SPI measures the statistical performance of economies in terms of how well, how broadly and how frequently national statistical systems collect, produce and disseminate high-quality data in a publicly accessible manner.

The overall score is based on an assessment of the performance in five pillars such as use of data, the quality of data services, data products, the sources of information, as well as infrastructure.

In the data use pillar, the Philippines maintained its perfect score of 100.

In terms of data services, the country got a score of 92.7 last year, the same as in 2022.

The Philippines saw a slight improvement in the data products pillar as its score went up to 85.2 in 2023 from 84.8 in 2022.

In contrast, the country’s score in the data sources pillar declined to 83.1 in 2023 from 87.3 in the previous year.

As for data infrastructure, the Philippines’ score rose to 65 last year from 55 in 2022.

By looking at countries’ statistical systems, the World Bank’s goal is to improve development outcomes and track progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at carrying out actions to end poverty and inequality, protect the planet, as well as ensure health, justice and prosperity for all.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the 2023 SPI results provide insights for further improvements in the country’s statistical system.

“While the country excels in data use and services, addressing the challenges with the rest of the pillars will be crucial in ensuring sustained progress,” the PSA said.