PHOTOS:TOP 15 BEST ISLANDS IN THE WORLD, 3 FROM THE PHILIPPINES

More than the natural beauty of the islands, and we are sure there are too many - it's the people actually that makes it more beautiful! Experience matter, and Filipinos are genuinely friendly, very hospitable and yes, very warm people.

More than 300,000 of Conde Nast Traveler Readers rated their favorite islands in the world (outside the U.S.) in this year's Readers' Choice Awards. Is your favorite on the list?Here are the list:

No 15, Tahiti Island

No. 14, Sardinia, Italy

No. 13, Cayman Island

No. 12, St. Barts (Saint Barthelemy)

No. 11, Mykonos, Greece

No. 10, Bali, Indonesia

No. 9, Crete, Greece

No. 8, Bermuda Islands

No. 7, Turks and Caocos

 No. 6, Vancouver, CANADA

No. 5, Cebu, Philippines
According to one commenter:
CEBU: Go to Sumilon Island, Bantayan Island, plus do some Canyoneering where you can jump off the high cliffs, swim at glowing crystal clear waters then have a great massage at the bottom of the Kawasan Falls while on bamboos. Trek to the highest point of Cebu, Osmeña Peak then catch the sunset. It's lovely. You can also swim together with gentle giants whalesharks at Oslob, Cebu. You might as well visit the Simala Church.

No. 4, Great Barrier Reef, Australia

No. 3, Mallorca, Spain

No. 2, Palawan, Philippines


One commenter said:
Palawan (particularly El Nido and Coron) is light years better than Boracay. If you want your vacay to be rockin' with night life go to Boracay. For amazing nature tripping, I highly recommend Palawan.

No. 1, Boracay Island Philippines

RELATED POST:

10 BEAUTIFUL VACATION PLACES IN PALAWAN YOU PROBABLY HAVE NOT SEEN YET

On the other hand, this waterfall in the Philippines generated nearly 8Million pageviews. This is Kawasan Falls in Cebu.

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RICHEST COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD AS PER POPULATION

These are the Top 10 riches countries as per population size and their GDP income.

1. Qatar 
2. Luxembourg 
3. Singapore 
4. Brunei Darussalam 
5. Kuwait 
6. Norway 
7. United Arab Emirates
8. Switzerland 
9. Hongkong/China  
10. United States of America

Top 10 Richest Countries Of The World
Top 10 Richest Countries Of The World
Posted by Wonderful Engineering on Tuesday, November 10, 2015

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2015 Top 3 Richest Countries in the Middle East and Top 10 Richest Countries in The World

According to the  Credit Suisse Research Institute on its  sixth annual Global Wealth Report, the following are the richest nations in the Middle East and North Africa Region.

1. Qatar- where the average wealth per adult is pegged at $157,000 (Dh576,653) in mid 2015 a noticeable 0.8% increase compared to year 2014. It is ranked 21st on global capita wealth.

Image from Wikipedia

2. UAE - the average wealth per adult is pegged at $144,400 (Dh530,373), with a decline of 0.3% from last year.

Image from Thymic Connections

3. Kuwait-  has an average wealth per adult of $113,400. The country showed a decline of 7.6% from last year.

While neighbouring countries like   Saudi Arabia  showed a significant increase by 0.9 per cent with $ $39,500 wealth per adult compared to earlier year, Bahrain dropped by 0.3%.

The report also states that to be in the wealthiest half of the world a person needs just $3,210 (after debts). 

Globally, the chart below shows the top 10 richest countries with Australia dropping from 2nd place last year to 3rd place still posted the largest spread of people in the middle class. 

©2015 THOUGHTSKOTO

Top 10 Most Emotional Countries in the World for 2015, Philippines 4th

Led by Bolivia and El Salvador, Latin American countries dominate the top of the list of the most emotional countries in the world for 2014. On average, nearly six in 10 residents in each of these countries reported experiencing positive or negative emotions the previous day. Post-Soviet states largely dominate the list of countries at the other end of the spectrum, where at most four in 10 residents reported experiencing any of these feelings.

MOST MOST EMOTIONAL COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD

Bolivia
El Salvador
Ecuador
Philippines
Nicaragua
Guatemala
Iraq
Cambodia
Colombia
Costa Rica
Honduras

The 2015 Global Emotions report presents the results from Gallup's latest measurements of these two indexes based on nearly 153,000 interviews with adults in 148 countries in 2014.

This report includes exclusive measures that show:

• the most positive countries in the world
• the most negative countries in the world
• countries where people are smiling, laughing a lot
• countries where people are most likely to experience anger daily

Bolivia

El Salvador

Ecuador

Philippines

Nicaragua

Guatemala

Iraq

Cambodia

Colombia

Costa Rica

Honduras

Gallup’s Positive and Negative Experience Indexes measure life’s intangibles — the feelings and emotions that traditional economic indicators such as GDP were never intended to capture. Each index provides a real-time snapshot of people’s daily experiences, offering leaders insights into the health of their societies that they cannot gather from GDP measures alone. The 2015 Global Emotions report presents the results from Gallup’s latest measurements of people’s positive and negative daily experiences, based on nearly 153,000 interviews with adults in 148 countries in 2014.

According to Gallup’s 2015 Global Emotions report, released on Thursday, the saddest people in the world often (and not surprisingly) live in countries in turmoil — economic or otherwise. Indeed, the countries with the highest levels of negative experiences among residents (defined as often feeling pain, worry, sadness, stress and/or anger on the previous day) were, in this order: Iraq (which has been No. 1 on this list now for three years), Iran, Cambodia, Liberia, South Sudan, Uganda, Cyprus, Greece, Togo, Bolivia and the Palestinian Territories.

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Top 10 Items Found in Balikbayan Boxes

Philippine Daily Inquirer made a survey in December 2014 regarding the usual items Filipinos get through balikbayan boxes. Here are the top 10 items, with approximate budget that an average OFW spend for such items.

1.    chocolates and candies(Php 2,000)

2.    clothes,(Php 3,000)

3.    shoes (Php 3,000)

4.    food and canned goods (Php 3,000)

5.    toiletries (Php 2,000) - 
May include shampoo, soap, toothpaste, lotion, facial creams and moisturizers

6.    bags (Php 5,000) 

7.    toys (Php 2,000)

8.    watches (Php 10,000) 

9.    appliances (Php 3,000) - 
Usual appliances are blender, food processor, hair dryer, flat iron, component and speakers

10. gadgets (Php 30,000)- 
This amount is limited to 1 gadget which could either be cellphone, tablet, laptop, camera 

Based on our estimate, a box with this items has a value of  Php 61,000. Currently for a box to be tax free the value should not exceed Php 22,500 or $500.

But if you are receiving a box like Mike, would they tax the $10,000 cash as they open the box for inspection?

©2015 THOUGHTSKOTO

Top 10 Safest Cities, Most Visited and to Visit this 2015

These are the top 10 Cities in the world.

by Getty images

Top 10 cities: 

Digital security Rank City (overall rank) Score/100 

1 Tokyo (1) 87.18 

2 Singapore (2) 83.85 

3 New York (10) 79.42 

4 Hong Kong (11) 78.78 

5 Osaka (3) 77 

6 Los Angeles (17) 74.99 

7 Stockholm (4) 74.82 

8 San Francisco (12) 73.85 

9 Abu Dhabi (25) 73.71 

10 Chicago (16) 72.9

Top 10 cities: Health security Rank City (overall rank) Score/100 

1 Zurich (7) 79.05 

2 New York (10) 78.52 

3 Brussels (22) 77.63 

4 Frankfurt (20) 77.38 

5 Paris (23) 76.95 

6 Osaka (3) 76.55 

7 Barcelona (15) 76.35 

8 Tokyo (1) 76.26 

9 Taipei (13) 76 

10 Stockholm (4) 75.83

And these are the Top 10 Cities to Visit this 2015 according to Lonely Planet

1. Washington DC, USA
2. El Chalten, Argentina
3. Milan, Italy
4. Zermatt, Switzerland
5. Valletta, Malta
6. Plovdiv, Bulgaria
7. Salisbury, Wiltshire
8. Vienna, Austria
9. Chennai, India
10. Toronto, Canada

Top 10 cities: Infrastructure safety Rank City (overall rank) Score/100 
1 Zurich (7) 92.63 
2 Melbourne (9) 92.28 
3 Sydney (6) 91.4 
4 Amsterdam (5) 91.27 
5 Tokyo (1) 89.79 
6 Montreal (14) 89.47 
7 Singapore (2) 88.86 
8 Toronto (8) 87.57 
9 Madrid (21) 87.28 
10 Abu Dhabi (25) 86.16 
10 San Francisco (12) 86.16

Top 10 cities: Personal safety Rank City (overall rank) Score/100 
1 Singapore (2) 90.42 
2 Osaka (3) 90.2 
3 Tokyo (1) 89.31 
4 Stockholm (4) 87.51 
5 Taipei (13) 85.67 
6 Hong Kong (11) 85.09 
7 Toronto (8) 84.82 
8 Melbourne (9) 82.72 
9 Amsterdam (5) 82.39 
10 Sydney (6) 80.4

READ ALL CONTENT HERE FOR OVERALL TOP 50 here

BEST CITIES TO VISIT THIS 2015 are:

Salisbury in Wiltshire has been named as one of the best cities in the world to visit in 2015, along with Washington DC and Milan. Here are the cities worth travelling to next year, according to the guide book publisher Lonely Planet.

1. Washington DC, USA
2. El Chalten, Argentina
3. Milan, Italy
4. Zermatt, Switzerland
5. Valletta, Malta
6. Plovdiv, Bulgaria
7. Salisbury, Wiltshire
8. Vienna, Austria
9. Chennai, India
10. Toronto, Canada
Source: Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2015

And the most visited cities in the world are?

1. Hong Kong, China 25.6m

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2. Singapore 22.5m

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3. Bangkok, Thailand 17.5m

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4. London, UK 16.8m

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5. Paris, France 15.2m

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6. Macau, Macau 14.3m

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7. New York City, United States 11.9m

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8. Shenzhen, China 11.7m

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9. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 11.2m

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10. Antalya, Turkey 11.1m

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Source: Euromonitor International

©2015 THOUGHTSKOTO