Margie Markland

The Philippines improved slightly in global rankings but continues to trail behind its Southeast Asian neighbors, weighed down by persistently poor performance in education.


According to the 2025 World Competitiveness Yearbook by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), the country rose one spot from 52nd to 51st out of 69 economies.

Despite this global bump, the Philippines remains the lowest-ranked Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) country in the report and holds 13th place out of 14 in the Asia-Pacific region, just ahead of Mongolia.

Education was the Philippines’ worst-performing area, landing at 63rd place, which is among the lowest in the global rankings.

The IMD report pointed to long-standing issues in the Philippine education system, including gaps in access, weak instruction quality, and limited alignment with labor market demands.

These challenges continue to undermine the country’s competitiveness by weakening the development of human capital and innovation capacity.

Education is one of five components under the infrastructure pillar, where the Philippines also performed poorly across the board.

It ranked 60th in basic infrastructure, 61st in health and environment, and 62nd in scientific infrastructure, reflecting a pattern of underinvestment in essential systems.

The country showed stronger results in a few areas, including employment, where it placed 7th globally, suggesting robust labor force participation or job generation.

It also ranked 17th in tax policy and 22nd in domestic economy, indicating stability in internal markets and improvements in fiscal policy.

However, these bright spots were not enough to offset weaknesses in governance, regulation, and business productivity.

The country placed 54th in institutional framework, 59th in business legislation, and 49th in public finance, pointing to inefficiencies in how the government supports enterprise and investment.

In the business efficiency pillar, the Philippines showed moderate results in labor market efficiency and societal attitudes, ranking 37th and 38th, respectively.

It struggled in finance, productivity, and management practices, with scores of 51st, 43rd, and 44th, areas that are crucial for scaling businesses and encouraging innovation.

The report was compiled locally by the AIM-RSN Policy Center for Competitiveness, which identified education and healthcare as urgent areas for structural reform.

It also emphasized the need to boost inclusive technology, manage inflation expectations, and respond more effectively to shifting global and geopolitical dynamics.

Published annually, the World Competitiveness Yearbook is produced by IMD, a Switzerland-based business school known for its research on leadership and global competitiveness.

The report evaluates 69 economies using more than 300 indicators across four main pillars: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure.

Its rankings are widely used by policymakers, economists, and private sector leaders to assess a country’s ability to sustain growth and support innovation.