Philippines rises in world openness index, still lags in the region

The Philippines climbed one spot to 82nd out of 129 economies with a score of 0.6588 in the 2025 edition of the World Openness Report. This is the country’s best ranking in three years. Published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ (CASS) Institute of World Economics and Politics and the Research Center for the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, the index, which used 2024 data, measures how open a country is through three key areas: economic, social and cultural. It applies criteria that include factors like trade tariffs, foreign investments, immigration statistics, and tourism levels.