Population of the Philippines by city and region

The Philippines is an island nation located on the very edge of the south-eastern part of Asia. Despite the remoteness from the continent, this country is a vivid example of the symbiosis of various cultural influences. That's why the population of the Philippines is so heterogeneous. Let's learn more about the inhabitants of this island nation.

Brief geographical characteristics

But before you begin to directly study the population of the Philippines, it is important to know in what geographical conditions it lives. The state is located on the islands of the Pacific Ocean, the number of which exceeds seven thousand, which are part of the Malay Archipelago. The country is located in the very south-east of Asia, between the island of Taiwan and Indonesia. The total area of the Philippines is approximately 300 thousand square meters. Km.

Most of the Philippine Islands are in the tropical climatic zone with monsoon type of climate, but the southern part of the country is located in the subequatorial zone. In such climatic and geographical conditions, the population of the Philippines lives.

A Brief Historical Essay

The population of the Philippine Islands in the form in which it exists now is formed as a result of the historical process, numerous migrations and cultural influences. Let us briefly review the history of the Philippines, especially paying attention to its impact on the transformation of the ethnic image of the country.

The first data on the settlement of the Philippines belong to the 5th century AD. Then the so-called Negrito tribes began to live on the islands, populating most of southeast Asia and belonging to the Australoid race. Up to now, some of these tribes have been preserved in the Philippines, for example, aeti.

A little later, from Taiwan, the island began to penetrate the representatives of the Austronesian language family, which today constitute the majority of the population of the Philippines. In addition, representatives of the Austronesian nationalities dominate in Indonesia and in some other Pacific island countries, as well as in Madagascar. They played a leading role in the ethnogenesis of modern Filipinos.

Also from the 8th century, Chinese merchants began to penetrate the islands, which marked the beginning of Chinese cultural influence on the region. At this time (until the XVII century), the Philippines was part of various Indo-Malayan maritime states, whose metropolis was located in the territory of modern Indonesia. So the Hinduism, Buddhism and Indian culture penetrated to the Philippines. In the XIV century, Arabs first landed on the islands, then Islam began to spread in the country.

In 1521 the first Europeans got to the Philippines. They were members of the crew of the first world round-the-world expedition of Portuguese Fernando Magellan. At that time, the islands were ruled by virtually independent rajas, who nominally recognized the vassalage from the state of Srivijaya, centered on Sumatra.

In 1543, the islands received their modern name from the Spaniards, who named them in honor of King Philip II, then still a prince. In 1565, Miguel Lopez founded the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines, he was helped by 400 soldiers. Then the Spaniards conquered almost all the islands. The population of the Philippines was forced to accept Catholicism in its majority, partially absorb the Spanish culture, go to the Spanish language. So, the children began to be called Spanish names. General captaincy of the Philippines was included in the vice-kingdom of New Spain with a center in modern Mexico. Between the Filipino city of Manila and the Mexican city of Acapulco, transportation has been established.

Only residents of the south of the Philippines remained Muslims, did not recognize the Spanish administration and waged an armed struggle against it, in fact, maintaining its independence.

Meanwhile, on the main part of the islands, the Filipino population, although it adopted Catholicism and considered its native language, was increasingly demanding independence. Rebellion has become a frequent phenomenon in the region. By the end of the nineteenth century, many revolutionary circles had appeared that were determined to fight to the last.

In 1898, after the war with the Americans lost to the Spaniards, the Europeans were forced to cede the Philippines to the Americans. But the Filipinos themselves did not like it, they proclaimed the republic and began a new war of liberation, which ended in 1902. The victory was celebrated by the Americans, although resistance in some regions continued almost to the beginning of the First World War. The Philippines became a colony of the United States. In 1935 they were granted the rights of broad autonomy.

During the Second World War, the territory of the Philippines was captured by the Japanese. After its termination, in 1946, the country became independent. The Philippines had the opportunity to develop independently. The state language was Filipino (based on Tagalog language) and English. The capital of the country is the city of Manila.

Modern life in the Philippines

However, the independence of the Philippines is overshadowed by the constantly renewed fighting between government forces, Maoist and Trotskyist groups, Muslim separatists in the south. In 1972, the state established the personal dictatorship of Fernando Marcos, who was removed from power as a result of the 1986 Yellow Revolution. After this, up to now, there have been periodic attempts at armed coups.

Nevertheless, the Philippines remains one of the most economically developed countries in the region.

Population

Currently, the total population of the Philippines is almost 103 million people. Thus, the country occupies the twelfth place in the world in terms of the number of people living in it.

The density of the population of the Philippines is 338 people per 1 square. Km. This is also one of the highest in the world indicators.

Ethnic composition

The bulk of the population of the Philippines belongs to different Austronesian peoples. The specific weight of this component is close to 95%. Among these peoples should be allocated Visayas, Tagalov, Sebuan, Varai, Ilok, Pangasinan, Bicol and Pampangan.

The most numerous are Visayas. The number of representatives of this ethnic group reaches 32 million people. Then follows Tagalog (22 million people). It was the Tagalog language that formed the basis of the literary Filipino, which is one of the two official languages. This is due primarily to the fact that this nationality inhabits the central part of the country, where the capital is located - the city of Manila. The third largest ethnic group is the Iloki (9.5 million people), who live mainly in the north of the island of Luzon. Their number is also great in the capital. In the south of the Philippines, the most numerous are the seboans.

The rest of the population of the Philippines is mixed. They include the remaining 5% of the country's inhabitants, who are not relatively "clean" Austronesians. Among these groups, the largest number of so-called Mestizo. They are the descendants of mixed marriages between representatives of different peoples and races that lived in the Philippines: Americans, Chinese, Spanish, Filipinos.

A separate ethnic group is the Negritos - descendants of Aborigines, who were first settled by the Philippines.

Languages

As mentioned above, the Philippines has two official languages: English (which has spread since the country was an American colony) and Filipino (based on the local Tagalog language).

In everyday life, the languages of certain ethnic groups are also used, some of them have a regional status. In addition to state languages, in the Philippines there is a wide distribution of Ilokan and Vasai. Languages of non-indigenous peoples are also quite widespread, namely Chinese, Spanish and Arabic. This is due to cultural expansion, as well as centuries of colonial dependence on Spain.

Religion

The overwhelming majority of the population of the Philippines professes Catholic Christianity. The proportion of Catholics among all the inhabitants of the islands is almost 81%. In addition, there are relatively many in the country and Protestants - more than 11.5%. The third largest religious group is Muslims. Islam professes about 5% of the population. Most of all Muslims in the south of the country. In addition, there are Buddhist communities in the Philippines. In the most remote regions adhere to traditional beliefs.

As we see, despite the predominance of Catholicism, in the Philippines there is a rather heterogeneous religious composition of the population.

The population of the capital

The capital of the Philippines is the city of Manila. At the moment, the population of this city is about 1.7 million people. This makes it the second most populated country in the country. The population density is about 43 thousand people per 1 square kilometer. This figure makes the capital of the Philippines one of the most densely populated cities on Earth. At the same time, in some parts of the city the density of the population exceeds even 68 thousand people. Per sq. M. Km.

Most of the residents of the capital, like in the whole of the Philippines, profess Catholicism (93.5%). About 6% of the manilians are Protestants of various denominations. The rest of the city's inhabitants are Buddhists and adherents of other religions.

As a colloquial language in the city is used Filipino, which is based on Tagalog, but in business and in education, English is widely used. The Chinese diaspora uses mainly the South Minor Chinese dialect.

Population in other large cities

Now let's look at what the population of the Philippines is like by cities that do not have a metropolitan status.

The most populated city of the country is Quezon City. It was founded relatively recently, in 1939. Originally planned as the new capital of the Philippines. Nevertheless, the capital status of the city had only from 1948 to 1976 years. Quezon City is located on the largest island of the Philippines - Luzon. It is in the immediate vicinity of Manila and is also part of the National Capital Region. The number of residents in Quezon City is even greater than in the capital, and there are more than 2.7 million people, most of whom are Catholics who speak the Philippine language.

Davao is the third largest city in the Philippines and the largest population center on the island of Mindanao. The population exceeds 1.6 million people.

The city of Kalookan is located in the Capital Region. It has more than 1.3 million inhabitants.

In all other cities of the country the population is less than 1 million inhabitants. Among them, the largest are Cebu (798,000), Zamboanga (774,000) and Antipolo (634,000 inhabitants).

Population by area

The Philippines is divided into 18 regions or districts. The most populated region is CLABARSON, whose name is an abbreviation of its constituent provinces. The population of this region is 12.6 million people.

The second largest city is the Metropolitan Region, where the largest cities of the country are located: Quezon City and Manila. In it, the number of the living population reaches the number of 11.9 million people.

The population of other regions of the country is as follows: Western Visayas - 7.1 million people, Central Visayas - 6.8 million people, Bikol Region 5.4 million people, Ilokos 4.7 million people, Davao 4,5 Million people, Northern Mindanao - 4.3 million people, Negros - 4.2 million people, SOKKSCSARHEN - 4.1 million people, East Visayas - 3.9 million people, Zamboanga Peninsula - 3.4 million people ., Autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao - 3.3 million people, Cagayan Valley - 3.2 million people, MIAMOROPA - 2.7 million people, Karaga - 2.4 million people, Cordillera administrative region - 1.6 Million people.

General characteristics of the population

We examined what the population of the Philippines is by city and region. As you can see, most of the islanders are representatives of the Austronesian peoples who speak the Filipino language and profess Catholicism. This is the population of the Philippines. A photo of one of the typical representatives of this country is presented in the article.

Nevertheless, in this country there are a large number of national and religious minorities, speaking different languages and professing many religions (Islam, Protestantism, Buddhism, etc.).