Basic literacy is almost universal in the Philippines. Of the estimated 68 million Filipinos 10 years old and over in 2008, 95.6 percent are basically literate. The basic literacy rate is 96.1 percent among females and 95.1 percent among males. By region, basic literacy rates are about the same for males and females.
The number of the overseas Filipino workers registered in the October 2006 Survey on Overseas Filipinos is 1.52 million. The number of female overseas workers is 764, which is 2% more than the number of male overseas workers in the same year. From the same survey conducted in October 2007, there were 1.75 million overseas Filipino workers or an increase of 232 thousand from 2006. The sex ratio among overseas Filipino workers is 104 males per 100 females. The number of female Filipino workers increased by 93 thousand from 764 thousand in 2006 to 857 thousand in 2007.
Of the estimated 18.5 million families in 2009, one in every five was female-headed, according to the 2009 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES). This is because Filipinos, in general, regard the male as head of the family. On the average, female-headed families had an income of about 230 thousand pesos every year which is higher than the income of male-headed families which was 200 thousand pesos, on the average.
The Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) shows the educational attainment of the population aged six years old and over. The survey results in 2003 and 2008 revealed an increasing trend in the proportion of population aged six years old and over who had completed at least elementary education. From 62 percent in 2003, the proportion who have completed at least elementary education increased to 68 percent in 2008.