Economy
Davao City Ranks 10th Among the Philippines' Largest Economies in 2025
The Philippine Statistics Authority's 2025 Provincial Product Accounts placed Davao City tenth among the country's 82 provinces and 33 highly urbanized cities, the only economy outside Luzon to reach the national top 10. Mayor Sebastian Duterte marked the result in a public message thanking residents and investors.
What the 2025 rankings show
Davao City ended 2025 as the tenth largest economy among the country's 82 provinces and 33 highly urbanized cities, based on the 2025 Provincial Product Accounts released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on August 28, 2026. The city's gross domestic product reached 601.68 billion pesos measured at constant 2018 prices, equal to 2.6 percent of the national economy.
It was the only local economy outside Luzon to reach the national top 10, and the largest among all highly urbanized cities in the Visayas and Mindanao. Its output stood well above that of any other city in the two island groups. The economy grew 4.8 percent over the year, slower than the pace it set the year before but still an expansion on a much larger base.
Where Davao sits in the national top 10
Only four local economies passed the one trillion peso mark in 2025. Quezon City led with 1.40 trillion pesos, followed by Makati at 1.27 trillion, Laguna at 1.14 trillion and Manila at 1.06 trillion. Those four were the only entries above the trillion peso line.
The next tier was tighter. Cavite reported 875.67 billion pesos, Batangas 713.22 billion, Bulacan 694.81 billion, Taguig 686.68 billion and Pampanga 627.89 billion. Davao City took the tenth spot at 601.68 billion pesos, the only place on the list not on Luzon.
The accounts rank 115 local economies in all, the 82 provinces and 33 highly urbanized cities, on the same measure of output. Nine of the ten largest are on Luzon, most of them in Metro Manila and the provinces around it, which is part of why Davao City's place near the top stands out.
How the ranking changed from 2024
Davao City's economy was smaller in 2024, when it reached 574.72 billion pesos and grew 7.9 percent. That year, it ranked fifth among the country's 33 highly urbanized cities by share of national GDP. The 2025 top 10, by contrast, combines provinces and highly urbanized cities, so the two rank positions are useful context but not a like for like measure of movement.
Its 2.6 percent share of national output held from one year to the next. Within the wider Davao Region, Davao del Norte drew attention for speed rather than size, expanding 8.3 percent in 2025, among the faster rates posted by any province that year.
How the mayor framed the result
Mayor Sebastian Duterte marked the figures in a public message addressed to residents and investors. He tied the 601.68 billion peso economy to an unemployment rate that he said stayed below the national level, and credited the result to the wider public rather than any single office.
"Every time a business chooses Davao, every time an investor puts their confidence in our city, and every time a Dabawenyo finds a job, I see more than numbers," he wrote. He thanked residents for their trust and pointed to jobs and family income as the measure that mattered most to him, closing with the line "Padayon ta," meaning let us keep going.
The message did not set out new targets. Instead, it framed the result as shared work and linked the headline figures to the jobs, household incomes and opportunities that residents experience locally.
What the figures measure
Provincial Product Accounts estimate the value of goods and services produced within each province and highly urbanized city. Because the 2025 figures use constant 2018 prices, they strip out inflation and show real change in output rather than the effect of higher prices.
The release covered all 82 provinces and 33 highly urbanized cities and is the standard reference for comparing local economies. The statistics agency plans dissemination forums in the regions from late September through mid October to walk officials and researchers through the provincial results.
The figure gives a size, not a household income. A large gross domestic product means a large volume of local activity, from trade and services to construction and manufacturing. It does not by itself describe how that output is shared among residents, which is why the unemployment rate the mayor cited sits alongside it as a separate gauge.