Overview | The Reports

The Philippines has published six national human development reports since 1994. These reports have acquired a reputation for factually based, insightful and well written analyses of human development issues in the Philippines. The PHDR is today a highly respected publication not just in the Philippines but also in the community of nations.

The PHDR is today a highly respected publication not just in the Philippines but also in the community of nations.

In October 2000, at the conclusion of the Second General Forum on Human Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when the first annual National Human Development Report Awards Programme was launched, the PHDR 2000 was among the awardees. PHDR 2000 won awards in three categories: Excellence in the Innovative Use of Human Development Measurement Tools, Excellence in Presentation and Design, and Excellence in Participation and Policy Impact.

The issue of the Philippine Human Development Report in 1994 introduced to Philippine readers the concept of Human Development, explaining its difference from the more traditional measure of development like per capita income and the significance of measures of life expectation and literacy and education in the promotion of human development. For the first time, it computed the Human Development Index (HDI) for each of the country’s regions and drew out policy implications of the index for action of national and regional authorities.

Succeeding issues dwelt on specific themes, defining and analyzing these and deriving policy suggestions from them. The 1997 issue highlighted the theme of Gender focusing on the enhancement of women’s capabilities and opportunities to make choices. This report noted the significant gains attained by the Philippines in increasing women’s access to education and jobs in certain sectors, and participation in elections as voters and candidates. The report of 2000 focused on Education. After documenting what is called an alarming decline in the quality of Philippine education it outlined a general framework for dealing with the problem. PHDR 2002 focused on Employment, more specifically on the nature of unemployment in the Philippines, the profile of the unemployed and quality of employment, and recommended ways and means of generating employment opportunities’ to enable people to live in prosperity and dignity. PHDR 2005 probed into Peace and Human Security and examined the causes and costs of ideology-based armed conflicts, the shortcomings of the government’s policies and institutions and recommended ways to recast or reinforce the government’s peace efforts. PHDR 2008/2009 looked into Institutions and Politics by digging into some critical institutions such as the Civil Service Commission, the Department of Budget and the Department of Education (DepEd), and key judicial and quasi-judicial agencies. Each of these issues also came up with the latest computations of provincial HDI’s.

The latest issue, PHDR 2012/2013 tackled the HDN’s most challenging issue to date, Geography and Human Development. The Report was launched on July 29, 2013.

The Reports