ASEAN Statistics Division (ASEANstats) provided statistical data of member states on selected key indicators, namely Economy, Trade, Investment, Socio-Demography and Connectivity. According to the data, ASEAN has made extraordinary progress since its foundation in 1967. The ASEAN GDP per capita grew by over 125 times from US$122 in 1967 to US$4,021 in 2016. Merchandise trade increased by over 220 times from US$10 billion in 1967 to US$2,236 billion in 2016. Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into ASEAN more than tripled between 2000 and 2016. At the same time, intra-ASEAN share of total FDI increased from 5.6% to 25.2%. Life expectancy went up from 56 years in 1967 to 71 years in 2016. In 2016, the adult literacy rate in the ASEAN is at almost 95%. In terms of connectivity for the same year, Internet subscribers in the ASEAN is 38.8 per 100 persons while there are 135.1 cellular phones per 100 persons.

In 2017, the Philippines ranked 6th out of the ten ASEAN countries in terms of GDP per capita with US$2,991.50 and 6th also in terms of Total Trade in Goods with US$176,130.40 million. However, the country’s Real GDP Growth of 6.7% is above the ASEAN average of 5.3%. The Philippines also collected US$10,049.4 million worth of Total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Inward Flows, wherein the country is ranked 4th in the ASEAN. When it comes to Socio-Demography, the country has the 3rd highest Adult Literacy Rate with 96.5% of Filipino adults able to read and write. The Filipinos’ Life Expectancy of 70.4 years puts the country in 7th place in the ASEAN region. Meanwhile, the Philippines is 4th in terms of Connectivity with 55.5 Internet subscribers per 100 persons. There are also 109.2 cellphones in the Philippines per 100 persons wherein the country ranks 8th in the ASEAN. (Source: ASEAN Secretariat, UNCTAD, UNICT, UNSD, UN Population Division). https://www.aseanstats.org/infographics/asean-50/