Philippines

Actually true

• Filipino hospitality is exceptionally genuine

  Guests are treated as honoured family, often fed more food than anyone could finish, without expectation of anything in return.

• It's Asia's largest Christian nation

  Around 80% of Filipinos are Catholic, a legacy of over 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, visible in fiestas and churches everywhere.

• Millions of Filipinos work abroad and send money home

  Overseas Filipino Workers form a huge share of the economy through remittances, and family ties across borders stay extremely strong.

• Basketball is a genuine national obsession

  Courts appear in even the smallest rural barangays, and the NBA has a massive, passionate following.

Commonly believed, wrong

• "It's culturally just like other Southeast Asian nations"

  Centuries of Spanish and American colonial rule gave the Philippines a distinctly Catholic, Latin-influenced culture unlike its Buddhist or Muslim-majority neighbours.

• "Manila is representative of the whole country"

  Over 7,600 islands include the rice terraces of Banaue, the diving of Palawan and the surf towns of Siargao — each utterly different.

• "English is a second, less-used language"

  English is an official language taught from primary school and used fluently in business, media and government alongside Filipino.

• "It's a poor country with nothing modern"

  Manila and Cebu have major business process outsourcing industries, and the Philippines' middle class and mall culture are large and thriving.