A lower-middle-income country, the Philippines has a food deficit that is exacerbated by the combined effects of man-made and natural disasters that include earthquakes, typhoons and armed conflict.

 

As one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, it ranked third out of 171 countries on the 2015 World Risk Index and fourth out of 188 countries on the 2016 Global Climate Risk Index. The country experiences around 20 typhoons a year, five of which are expected to cause major damage and trigger floods and landslides. Vulnerability to the occurrence of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and climate change-related phenomena, such as drought, exacerbate the situation. http://www1.wfp.org/countries/philippines

 

The unemployment rate declined from 7.3% to 5.5% between 2010 and 2016 but the jobs are low paying and tedious. Underemployment hovers at around 18% to 19% of the employed. At least 40% of the employed work in the informal sector. Poverty afflicts more than a fifth of the population. More than 60% of the poor reside in rural areas, where the incidence of poverty (about 30%) is more severe - a challenge to raising rural farm and non-farm incomes. Continued efforts are needed to improve governance, the judicial system, the regulatory environment, the weak state of infrastructure, and the overall ease of doing business. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html