POVERTY a TREND: Understanding Philippines

The Philippines is an archipelago comprising some 7,100 islands with a total land area of almost 300,000 square kilometres. Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei border the Philippines to the south, China - and Taiwan - to the north, Vietnam to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. Three main island groups divide the country: Luzon in the north, the Visayas in the centre, and Mindanao in the south. Luzon and Mindanao together make up 65 per cent of the Philippines' total land mass. The capital city, Manila, is located on Luzon.

In 2007, the estimated population of the Philippines was 88.6 million. The most commonly spoken language in the Philippines is Filipino, a language derived from the Tagalog language of central and southern Luzon. English is also widely spoken, particularly in urban areas. There are some 87 ethnic languages and dialects spoken throughout the Philippines.

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It has been a long time problem and Government Issue on how to handle Poverty on a third-world-country such as Philippines. For my 23 years stay here, I have witnessed and discovered some factors why people are being deprived economically.

For every 77 million Filipinos today, and this number is growing by 2.05 percent annuall (1.5 million Filipinos are born every year), 600,000 of whom belong to the poverty line. Some 32.5 million Filipinos, comprising 66.3 percent of the population, are considered matured enough to work. But 3.3 million of these people, or 10.1 percent of the workforce, cannot find jobs while 5.2 million others, or 17.7 percent, have no regular source of income.

And as I was searching the net for various reasons, they give me plenty. Yo include some on my hub are:

• Unemployment issues
• Unchecked population growth
• Problems in agricultural sector
• Governence concern
• Armed conflict
• Disability

Some says that poverty is mainly RURAL and is most common in Mindanao, I say that it is variable and is widespread among Philippines Archipelago. Urban has also its share of poverty. Here are some pictures of Slum areas in Manila, Cebu and Davao.