The Phillipines
With approximately 18,609,000 people living in the Philippines , it is a large group of islands with very diverse peoples. There are approximately 70-75 aboriginal languages. Within these are two sub-groups: the Central (Mesophilippine) division and the Northern (Cordilleran) division. There are also some smaller, unclassified groups. The most used Mesophilippine language is Tagalog, which is a standardized form of Filipino, and Cebuano. In the Cordilleran division it is Ilocano . The capital is Quezon City, although Manila is often confused to be the capital because many important offices are there. The literacy rate for people over 15 is 95.4%. It is almost identical for females (95.2%) as males (95.5%) . This high literacy rate probably has a lot to do with all the technical support the Philippines has accrued from China and other countries. This has allowed them to open thousands of schools. The Peso in the Philippines has been on the decline quickly. This is not only because of US downturn but also because of capital flight. This is evident in their entry for trade credits. The country extended net trade credits to the world to the tune of $5.2 billion US in 1999, $9.6 billion US in 2000 and $2 billion US in 2001. These numbers are much higher than other Asian countries. The reason it is so high is because it is illegal for anyone to change more than $5000 US within 15 days so they disguise the changes under trade credits .