Philippines improves in global connectedness — DHL report

By Justine Irish D. Tabile, Senior Reporter

HANOI — The Philippines improved three spots to 59^th in the DHL Global Connectedness Report 2026, placing it in the middle among its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Launched on Tuesday, the biennial report, which measures the state and trajectory of globalization across 180 countries, showed that the Philippines scored 51.9 points out of 100 in 2024, lower than the 52.1 points in 2023.

However, the Philippines’ ranking improved to 59^th spot in 2024 from 62^nd place in 2023.

At 59^th, this was the highest ranking the country achieved in the DHL index since it ranked 57^th in 2019.

The report was made with the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business.

Despite the improvement in the ranking, the report showed that the Philippines ranked low based on the depth of its integration, placing 134^th with a score of 43.1.

On the other hand, the country ranked 27^th based on the breadth of its integration with a score of 62.6.

The DHL report measures depth, or the international flows relative to total activity, and breadth, or the distribution of international flows across countries, across four pillars: trade, capital, information, and people.

Across the four pillars, the country ranked the highest in capital at 47^th, while it ranked 50^th in the information pillar, 57^th in the people pillar, and 59^th in the trade pillar.

Among Association of Southeast Asian Nations members, the Philippines came in fifth. Singapore ranked first overall with a score of 77.8; followed by Malaysia, which ranked 16^th with a score of 60.8; Thailand, at 27^th with a score of 58.4; and Vietnam, at 36^th with a score of 57.3.

Meanwhile, the Philippines fared better than Brunei Darussalam (69^th), Cambodia (73^rd), Laos (109^th), Indonesia (112^th), Timor-Leste (139^th), and Myanmar (160^th).

The DHL report showed that the country’s goods exports as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) ranked 117^th across 180 economies, while its services exports ranked 76^th.

The country fared better in terms of announced greenfield foreign direct investments (FDIs) as a share of GDP (51^st) and mergers and acquisitions as a percentage of GDP (39^th).

However, the report showed that the country ranked low, at 125^th and 102^nd, in FDI inward stocks and FDI inflows, respectively.

After Singapore, the other most globally connected countries are Luxembourg (2^nd), the Netherlands (3^rd), Ireland (4^th), and Switzerland (5^th).

These were followed by Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Denmark.

DHL Express Chief Executive Officer John Pearson said that the world’s level of globalization was 25% in 2025.

“Globalization is holding its ground — and that alone speaks volumes about its value,” he said at the event.

Mr. Pearson said that one of the key takeaways of the report is that the trade growth is expected to be at the same average pace as the past decade of 2.6% in the 2026 to 2029 period.

“When you look at the data, it suggests that global trade is resilient,” he said, noting that global goods trade grew faster in 2025 than in any year since 2017.

Meanwhile, Steven A. Altman, director of the DHL Initiative on Globalization at NYU Stern, said that the forecast points to a lot of potential for trade growth in the Philippines.

“I think the Philippines really stands out as a country that has a lot of potential for trade growth,” Mr. Altman, who is also a co-author of the report, said at the launch.

He said that the country could tap this potential through “policies that improve accessibility, domestic business environment, and international relations.”

“My hope is that the forecasts that show that optimistic picture for the Philippines are going to come to fruition in the years to come,” he added.

John Paolo R. Rivera, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said that the report’s findings present opportunities for the Philippines to expand exports and attract investment.

“The report also highlights the need to improve logistics efficiency, digital infrastructure, and trade competitiveness since countries that are more connected tend to benefit more from global trade flows,” Mr. Rivera said in a Viber message.

“It reinforces the importance of strengthening the country’s role in regional supply chains and global services trade like electronics, information technology and business process management, tourism, and logistics,” he added.

Foundation for Economic Freedom President Calixto V. Chikiamco said that the Philippines should be more “outward looking” by increasing the share of exports as a percentage of GDP.

To achieve this, he said that the country should make exports profitable by undervaluing the currency, foster competition in the domestic market, and sign more free trade agreements.

“Countries that are export-oriented and outward-looking, such as China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, have better governance and better bureaucracies than inward-looking countries like the Philippines,” he said in a Viber message.

“This is because for their export champions to compete in the global market, they need to have better governance and more efficient states,” he added.