Philippines Overview

Photo credit

Andrew Matheson

10:03pm Tuesday 16 March

From the time of independence, the Philippines economy has had a mixed history of growth and development. Now, with a population in excess of 88 million people, the Philippines is a large and growing market.

Relations between New Zealand and the Philippines are friendly, and increasingly strong. The relationship has become more substantial in recent times with increasing trade. Two-way trade now exceeds NZ$883million per annum. A long-standing development assistance partnership adds strength to the bilateral relationship.

Map of Philippines and surrounding region with ASEAN neighbours marked

Key demographics

Official Name	Republic of the Philippines
Land Area	300,000 sq km
Population	88.7 million
Capital City	Manila
Religion	Roman Catholic (83%) Protestant (9%) Muslim (5%) Other (3%)
Language	Filipino and English are the official languages
Currency	Peso

Key statistics

GDP	US$144.06 billion
GDP per capita	US$3,380 (PPP estimate 2007)
Total exports	US$50.5 billion
Total imports	US$58 billion
Total NZ exports to the Philippines	NZ$712.8 million (2007-8)
Total NZ imports from the Philippines	NZ$225.4 million (2007-8)

Sources of data: IMF (GDP data), World Bank (export/imports) and Statistics New Zealand (NZ exports/imports).