DHL Global Connectedness Report: PHL slips 2 rungs

The Philippines slipped two places to 59th out of 180 countries in the 2026 DHL Global Connectedness Report, held back by weak scores in trade, capital, and the actual volume of its international economic activity despite a broad geographic reach.

- BY LORENZ S. MARASIGAN

The report, produced by DHL and New York University's Stern School of Business, tracked international flows of trade, capital, information, and people across 180 countries using more than 9 million data points.

The Philippines scored 51.9 overall, unchanged from 2019 in absolute terms.

Singapore ranked first globally. Other Southeast Asian nations trailed behind at 16th place for Malaysia, 27th for Thailand, 36th for Vietnam, 59th for the Philippines, 112th for Indonesia.

According to the report, the Philippines's weakness is "depth," which measures the size of flows relative to domestic economic activity. It ranked 134th in that measure.

The Philippines, however, ranked 27th globally in terms of "breadth," which means that its flows are distributed to a wide range of partner countries.