Assessment of the indicators in terms of their applicability in the Philippines, availability, frequency of release, data source

In the Philippines, the assessment and compilation of MDG Indicators were done as part of the participation of the NSCB in the Workshop on Development Indicators held in Manila, Philippines in October 2001 and 2002 organized by the UNSD through the "United Nations Project on Strengthening Regional Capacities for Statistical Development in Southeast Asia."

In terms of relative data availability in support of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) the Philippines ranked first among the 11 countries in South-East Asia. Based on the 2003 report of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), the Philippines obtained a rating of 27.9% followed by Thailand with 25.2% and Indonesia with 24.6%.

Overall, the Philippines ranked fourth among all of Asia and the Pacific in terms of data availability for tracking progress towards the MDG in the region with Australia gathering 29.1%, Japan, 29.0%, and Republic of Korea, 28.7%. According to UN-ESCAP, the theoretical maximum is for a country to have 767 data values (59 series x 13 years) and a country is counted to have data available when data exist for one or more years. The Philippines, according to the ESCAP report, has a total of available 214 indicators. The MDG indicators and corresponding data series for the Philippines are being compiled by the NSCB and are available on the PSA website at http://www.psa.gov.ph/mdgs-main

The UN ESCAP report, Important Information: Data Availability for Tracking Progress Towards the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific was published in December 2003 to give an overview of the national and global monitoring system, and the availability of national level indicators in the different countries in the region as of 31 October 2003. The monitoring system will provide UN-ESCAP critical information for policy purposes and for the strengthening of data collection capacities in ESCAP and associate UN member countries.

The assessment made on the availability and applicability of the MDG indicators in the Philippines showed that out of the 48 indicators, 29 could be obtained from the various government surveys and administrative records; 8 indicators are not available; and 11 are found not applicable in the Philippines. For some of the 8 indicators which are not available, there are international organizations such as the UNAIDS, WHO, World Bank, and International Telecommunications Unit (ITU) which have country estimates on these indicators.

The 11 indicators which are not applicable in the Philippines fall under Goal 8 – Develop a Global Partnership for Development. Some of these indicators are more relevant to least developed countries (LDCs), Africa, landlocked countries, small island developing States, and HIPs.