The Philippines dipped to 23rd in this year’s ranking that assesses how the world’s most promising logistics markets respond to emerging developments in global logistics.

Based on the 2025 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index, the country fell five notches from the 18th spot it has secured since 2021.

The Philippines earned an overall score of 4.91, down from the previous year’s 5.06.

Conducted by logistics firm Agility and research and analysis company Transport Intelligence, the annual index measures four key areas for logistics markets developments: domestic logistics opportunities, international logistics opportunities, business fundamentals, and digital readiness.

Essentially, the index provides a snapshot of each country’s current performance and future potential as a globally significant logistics market and investment destination.

With the ranking’s inclusion of digital readiness in 2022, this sub-index has seen the most change among the 50 countries included in the list given the volatility of e-commerce.

Digital readiness measures the potential and progress of an emerging market in becoming a “digitally-led, skills-rich, innovation-oriented and sustainable economy” for the future.

While the Philippines performed the best in this regard, tallying a score of 5.05, the index identified the country as among those who “struggled” as it slid 11 positions to 23rd place in this sub-index.

Similar to Pakistan and Lebanon, the “declining network readiness and lagging innovation indices” in the country were cited as major contributors to the “downward trajectory” in digital readiness.

The Philippines’ neighboring countries Malaysia and Thailand yielded high scores in this sub-index, ranking third and sixth, respectively.

China triumphed in this category with a score of 8.47, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at a distant second with 6.55.

The Philippines saw no change in terms of domestic logistics opportunities, which measures the performance of each emerging market and its potential to sustain domestic demand.

It once again ranked 17th, with a score of 4.97. Asian giants China and India topped the list, with Indonesia at third position.

For international logistics opportunities, the Philippines dropped three spots to 16th, batting a score of 4.95.

According to the index, this sub-index measures internal and external demand for trade intensive logistics services and the capacity of individual emerging markets to facilitate cross-border logistics operations.

China once again tops this list, which the index has flagged over the barrage of its inexpensive goods that may threaten developing economies.

The Philippines performed the worst in the ranking of business fundamentals for last year, recording a score of 4.53 and placing 31st.

It, however, is a huge improvement from last year’s ranking when the country grabbed the 36th spot.

The sub-index measures business fundamentals through the “openness, robustness, fairness and strength” of each emerging markets’ business environment, as well as their rule of law and market independence.

Aside from Malaysia, five of the top six of this sub-index are countries in the Middle East, namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain.