The Philippines ranked dead last in an international business magazine’s list of safest countries in 2021.
The ranking, published on July 6 by Global Finance, was based on factors such as war and peace, personal security, and natural disaster risk including the unique risk factors stemming from Covid-19.
The Philippines scored 14.8899 points in the magazine’s safety index to rank at the bottom among 134 countries.
Iceland , which scored 3.9724 points, was the safest country, according to the list.
The Palace on Friday said it was “optimistic that things would be better,” citing the country’s progress on vaccination, crime suppression and disaster management.
“While it is given that the Philippines is prone to natural hazards owing to its geographical location in the Pacific rim as well as due to climate change, our disaster management system continues to improve. The Filipino people are also growing more resilient and adaptive,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement.
Roque also noted that the Philippines had seen a decline in crimes since community quarantines were implemented last year, and that the Philippines was not a country at war.
“In addition, we are on track in achieving our target of population protection in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces by November this year as long as the supply of vaccines remains stable,” he said.
The Philippines has recorded 1,461,455 cases as of July 9, with 25,720 fatalities.
With the vaccination rate of the Philippines as of July 7, independent data tracker herdimmunity.ph estimates the country to reach herd immunity date by December 2022. John Ezekiel J. Hirro