Fidel Ramos was born on March 18, 1928 in Lingayen, Pangasinan and he was raised later in Asingan, Pangasinan. His father, Narciso Ramos (1900–1986), was a Lawyer, Journalist and five-term legislator of the House of Representatives, who eventually rose to the position of Secretary of Foreign Affairs. As such, Narciso Ramos was the Philippine signatory to the ASEAN declaration forged in Bangkok in 1967, and was a founding member of the Liberal Party. According to Fidel Ramos's biography in his presidential inauguration in 1992, Narciso Ramos also served as one of the Leaders of the anti-Japanese guerrilla group the Maharlika founded by Ferdinand Marcos. His mother, Angela Valdez (1905–1978), was an educator, woman suffragette, and member of the respected Valdez clan of Batac, Ilocos Norte, making him a second degree cousin to former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

He received elementary education in Lingayen Public Schools. Ramos began secondary education at the University of the Philippines High School in the City of Manila, and continued in the High School Department of Mapúa Institute of Technology. He graduated high school from Centro Escolar University Integrated School in 1945. He later on obtained his degree in Civil Engineering at National University in Manila. He was Top 8 in the Civil Engineering Board Exam in 1953. Afterwards he went to the United States and he graduated from the United States Military Academy, with Bachelor of Science in Military Engineering and the University of Illinois, with a master's degree in civil engineering. He also holds a master's degree in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines and a master's degree in Business Administration from Ateneo de Manila University. In addition, he received a total of 29 honorary doctorate degrees.

Although he battled Communist rebels as a young lieutenant in the 1950s, Ramos made a bold move when he signed into law the Republic Act 7636, which repealed the Anti-Subversion Law. With its repeal, membership in the once-outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines became legal.

He married Amelita Martinez on October 21, 1954, and together they have five daughters: Angelita Ramos-Jones, Josephine Ramos-Samartino, Carolina Ramos-Sembrano, Cristina Ramos-Jalasco and Gloria Ramos.

Ramos headed the Philippine Constabulary, then a major Service branch of the Armed Forces, that acted as the country's national police until 1972, when Ferdinand Marcos imposed Martial Law. Ramos is held responsible by for human rights abuses committed under Martial Law as head of the Philippine Constabulary chief; the unit responsible in the arrest tortures of civilians.

In 1975, all civic and municipal police forces in the country were integrated by decree, and it became known as the Integrated National Police (INP), which was under the control and supervision of the Constabulary. As head of the PC, Ramos was ex officio the INP's first concurrent Director-General. Martial Law was formally lifted nine years later on January 17, 1981, but Marcos retained absolute powers.

When Ver was implicated in the August 21, 1983 assassination of former opposition Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., Ramos became Acting AFP Chief of Staff until Ver's reinstatement in 1985 after he was acquitted of charges related to the killing. Ramos at this time also formed the Special Action Force of the Philippine Constabulary to deal with terrorist-related crimes.

After Aquino assumed the Presidency, she appointed Ramos as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (1986-1988), and later Secretary of National Defense as well as Chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (1988-1991). During this time, Ramos personally handled the military operations that crushed nine coup attempts against the Aquino government. During Ramos' presidency, the National Unification Commission was created, and its chairman Haydee Yorac, together with Ramos, recommended to President Aquino to grant amnesty to the rebel military officers of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) led by Col. Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan.

During his final years in office, Ramos tried to amend the country's 1987 constitution; a process popularly known to many Filipinos as Charter Change or the so-called "Cha-Cha". Widespread protests led by Corazon Aquino and the Catholic Church stopped him from pushing through with the plan. Political analysts were divided as to whether Ramos really wanted to use Cha-Cha to extend his presidency or only to imbalance his opponents, as the next presidential election neared. He also intended to extend the term limits of the presidency to remain in power but her political rival Miriam Defensor-Santiago went to the Supreme Court and negated extending the term limit of the President, which preserved democracy at the time.

Ramos has received several military awards including the Philippine Legion of Honor (1988, 1991), the Distinguished Conduct Star (1991), the Distinguished Service Star (1966, 1967, 1981), Philippine Military Merit Medal (1952), the United States Legion of Merit, the French Legion of Honor, the U.S. Military Academy Distinguished Graduate Award and Legion of Merit (1990).

Under his administration, the Philippines enjoyed economic growth and stability. The Philippine Stock Exchange in the mid-1990s was one of the best in the world and his visions of 'Philippines 2000' that led the country into a newly industrialized country in the world and the "Tiger Cub Economy in Asia".

In December 1991, Ramos declared his candidacy for President. However, he lost the nomination of the then-dominant party Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) to House Speaker Ramon Mitra, Jr. Days later, he bolted from the party LDP and cried foul and founded his own party, the Partido Lakas Tao (People Power Party), inviting Cebu Governor Emilio Mario Osmeña to be his running mate as his Vice Presidential candidate. The party formed a coalition with the National Union of Christian Democrats (NUCD) of Senator Raul Manglapus and the United Muslim Democrats of the Philippines (UMDP) of Ambassador Sanchez Ali. Ramos and Osmeña, together with Congressman (later House Speaker) Jose de Venecia, campaigned for economic reforms and improved national security and unity.

Power crisis: The Philippines then was experiencing widespread blackouts due to huge demand for electricity and antiquity of power plants, the abolishment of the Department of Energy and discontinuation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant during the Aquino administration. During his State of the Nation address on July 27, 1992, he requested that the Congress enact a law that would create an Energy Department that would plan and manage the Philippines' Energy demands. Congress not only created an Energy Department but gave him special emergency powers to resolve the power crisis. Using the powers given to him, Ramos issued licenses to independent power producers (IPP) to construct power plants within 24 months. Ramos issued supply contracts that guaranteed the government would buy whatever power the IPPs produced under the contract in U.S. dollars to entice Investments in power plants. This became a Problem during the East Asian Financial Crisis when the demand for electricity contracted and the Philippine peso lost half of its value.

Ramos personally pushed for the speedy approval of some of the most expensive power deals, and justified signing more contracts despite warnings from within the government and the World Bank that an impending oversupply of electricity could push up prices, a situation that persists in the Philippines up to the present. Individuals linked to Ramos lobbied for the approval of some of the contracts for independent power producers (IPPs), which came with numerous other deals, including lucrative legal, technical, and financial consultancies that were given to individuals and companies close to the former President. Among the deals tied to IPP projects were insurance contracts in which companies made millions of dollars in commissions alone. All the IPP contracts came with attractive incentives and guarantees. Every contract was designed to give IPP creditors some degree of comfort in financing ventures that would usually involve huge capital and risks. Most IPPs were funded by foreign loans secured with a form of government guarantee or performance undertaking, which meant that the Philippine government would pay for the loans if the IPPs defaulted. The Ramos government continued signing IPP contracts even after the power crisis had been considered solved by the end of 1993. The World Bank came up with a report in 1994 warning that power rates may rise if the government continued to enter into more IPP contracts that would mean excess power. The World Bank questioned the ambitious projections of the government on economic growth and power demand from 1994 to 1998. It also warned that the power generated by private utilities' IPPs could duplicate those of the National Power Corporation and create an overcapacity. The World Bank said that the factors create considerable uncertainty in power demand, like substantial overcapacity, particularly under take-or-pay conditions, would require considerable tariff increases that would be unpopular with the public. It was said that, Presidents since Corazon Aquino catered mostly to the needs of big Business for power and allowed the private sector to profit from this lucrative industry rather than craft an Energy plan that would meet the needs of the Filipinos.

As recommended by the Gancayco Commission, Ramos facilitated the enactment of Republic Act 8042, better known as the "Magna Carta for Overseas Workers" or more formally as the Migrant Workers Act, which was signed into law on June 7, 1995. Learning from the lessons of the Contemplación case, Ramos immediately ordered UAE Ambassador Roy Señeres to facilitate negotiations after learning of the death penalty verdict of Sarah Balabagan in September 1995. Balabagan's sentence was reduced and she was released in August 1996. After tensions cooled off, Ramos restored diplomatic relations with Singapore after meeting Goh Chok Tong on the sidelines during the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in New York City.

Ramos, a military general himself, made peace with the rebel panels. He was instrumental in the signing of the final peace agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Nur Misuari in 1996.

Leftist groups have also criticized Ramos for his economic reforms such as privatization, deregulation and trade liberalization, claiming that the economic growth posted during his presidency was "artificial". They blamed him for the slowdown of the Philippine economy during the 1997 East Asian financial crisis. The sale of 40% of Petron to Aramco is specifically criticized for resulting in the loss of the government's effective leverage on domestic oil prices.

In 1998, the Union for Socialist Ideas and Action told a left-wing Australian organization that Ramos hesitantly admitted that contrary to his government's earlier claim, the economic fundamentals of the country may actually be unsound. His admission came following the discovery of a secret memorandum issued by the National Economic Development Authority director-general urging the President to tell the Filipinos the truth about the state of the economy and that they ought to prepare for worse. According to former University of the Philippines President Francisco Nemenzo, Ramos "has done nothing to reverse or slow down the implementation" of the harmful IMF-imposed structural reforms.

In January 2001, Ramos was instrumental in the success of the so-called second EDSA Revolution that deposed Philippine President Joseph Estrada and placed then-Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the presidential seat.

He served as the Carlyle Group Asia Advisor Board Member until the board was disbanded in February 2004. At present, as a private citizen, Ramos is engaged in various private sector advocacies where he plays prominent roles. These include: Chairman, Ramos Peace and Development Foundation; Chairman, Boao Forum for Asia; Trustee, International Crisis Group (ICG); Member, Advisory Group, UN University for Peace; Honorary Director, General Douglas MacArthur Foundation; Founding Member, Policy Advisory Commission, World Intellectual Property Organization (PAC-WIPO); Honorary Member, World Commission on Water for the 21st century; Member, International Advisory Council, Asia House; Patron, Opportunity International (Philippines); Global Advisor, University of Winnipeg; Honorary Chairman, Yuchengco Center, De La Salle University; Member, Advisory Board, Metrobank; Honorary President, Human Development Network (HDN) Philippines; Lifetime Honorary President, Christian Democrats International (CDI); and Chairman Emeritus, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) Party.

At the height of the election-rigging scandal in July 2005, Ramos publicly convinced President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo not to resign from office. Ramos, who was also hounded by charges of electoral fraud during the 1992 elections which were never proven in the Supreme Court, repeatedly stated that the scandal is nowhere as grave as that of People Power Revolutions of 1986 and 2001, citing factors such as the stagnant Philippine economy in the final years of the Marcos regime as well as the allegedly massive corruption of the Estrada administration.

Ramos is currently representing the Philippines in the ASEAN Eminent Persons Group, tasked to draft the Charter of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). He was also a member of numerous international groups and fora, and is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Boao Forum for Asia (also one of the co-founders of BFA) and Co-Chairman of the Global Meeting of the Emerging Markets Forum (EMF). Ramos was heavily recommended for the position of the United Nations envoy to Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) in June 2006.

Ramos also unveiled his proposals for constitutional change of the country. Citing the need to be more economically competitive in the midst of globalization and the need to improve governance for all Filipinos, Ramos suggested that government should start the process of Charter Change with a set deadline in 2007 (by which time the new charter and new government would take effect). Ramos supports the transformation of the country's political system from the Philippine presidential-bicameral-system into a unicameral parliament in transition to a federal form.

Ramos is also a firm backer of the proposed Philippine Reproductive Health bill. During a meet-up with fellow RH bill supporters in May 2011, he urged President Benigno Aquino III to certify the RH bill as urgent, saying it is the "right thing" to do. During his administration, the Department of Health under Juan Flavier launched an intense drive to promote family planning. Asiaweek reported in August 1994 that under Ramos, "family planning funding has quintupled." They also noted that President Ramos "has gone the farthest of any administration in opposing the Church's positions on contraception and abortion." At present, Ramos is listed by the Forum for Family Planning and Development as one of its Eminent Persons. The Forum is a non-governmental organization working to advance "national policies on population management, health, and family welfare."

The country was considered risky by Investors due to previous coup attempts by military adventurists led by Gregorio Honasan, and experienced blackouts at an almost daily basis lasting 4–12 hours during the term of President Aquino. The low supply of power and perceived instability had previously held back Investments and modernization in the country. Under Ramos, the Philippines was a pioneer in the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) scheme where private Investors are invited to build certain government projects (i.e. tollways, powerplants, railways, etc.), make money by charging users, and transfer operation to the government after a set amount of time.

In 2016, Ramos was widely criticized for persuading Rodrigo Duterte to run for President, which Duterte eventually won in May 2016. Duterte initially declined all offers for a presidential or vice presidential run, but Ramos insisted that Duterte must be President.

Ramos is a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organization which works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law. It does so by making available, discreetly and in confidence, the experience of former Leaders to today’s national Leaders. It is a not-for-profit organization composed of former heads of government, senior governmental and international organization officials who work closely with Heads of Government on governance-related issues of concern to them.