Big Byte Index: Philippines’ monthly internet cost 37th cheapest in the world

The Philippines ranked 37th out of 168 countries in World Data Lab’s Big Byte Index 2024, after scoring 16.6 out of 100. This means the country’s internet price at $4.8 a month is lower than the United States’ $28.8. The Philippines had the fourth-cheapest internet price compared with its peers in the East and Southeast Asian region.

The Philippines ranked 56th out of 169 countries in terms of the “internet poor” as a share of the population, according to the 2024 Internet Poverty Index by Austria-based data enterprise World Data Lab. This translated to over 18.33 million Filipinos or 15.9% of the total population who cannot afford a 1-GB-per-month internet package, the third highest in the region.

Source: Business World

Philippines places 70th in 2024 Gender Index

The Philippines ranked 70th out of 139 countries in the 2024 SDG Gender Index by Equal Measures 2030. The Philippines scored 67.52 out of 100, one of the lowest in the region.

Despite this, the country scored slightly above the Asia and the Pacific average score of 66.48 and the world average score of 66.13. This index assesses progress on gender equality and provides a snapshot of where the world stands on the vision of gender equality outlined in the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Based on the report, no country has achieved the promise of gender equality envisioned in the 2030 Agenda.

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Source: Business World

Philippines ranks 30th most charitable country in the world

Around the world, a record 4.3 billion people helped someone they didn’t know, volunteered time or donated money to a good cause in the preceding month according to the Charities Aid Foundation’s World Giving Index 2024.

The world’s most generous country is Indonesia for the seventh year in a row, where 90% of Indonesians donated money to charity and 65% volunteered their time. Kenya is the second most generous country, rising from third last year. Singapore has risen 19 places to third, increasing its overall index score from 49% to 61% year on year. The positive results for Singapore follow recent Government initiatives to bolster philanthropy and volunteering.

The CAF World Giving Index is one of the biggest surveys on giving ever produced, interviewing millions of people around the world since 2009. This year’s Index includes data from 142 countries with people asked three questions: have they helped a stranger, given money or volunteered for a good cause during the past month.

The CAF World Giving Index 2024 also finds:

The top 10 countries includes only two of the world's largest economies (Indonesia and the United States), while one of the poorest countries in the world – The Gambia – is ranked in the fourth place.

Morocco saw the world’s largest year-on-year increase in donating money, with interviews taking place in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that hit the centre of the country in September 2023. Just two per cent of people donated money to charity in 2022, but this rose to 18% last year, and volunteering rates doubled from 8% to 16%.

Greece is the biggest riser this year, having consistently increased its ranking since 2013. It has a particularly high score for helping a stranger – significantly above the European average and particularly high among young people.

Over the last decade Ukraine, Indonesia, Chad, Russia, and China are the most improved, each having recorded an increase of 25 points or more.

The Philippines climbed 68 notches to 30th out of 142 countries. The country’s score improved by 13 points year on year to 47 points out of 100, the second-largest improvement after Greece.

The Philippines’ score was even better than the global score of 40. The WGI ranks and scores a country by examining three aspects of giving behavior: helping a stranger, donating money, and volunteering time.

wgi_2024_report.pdf

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Source: Business World