Page last modified 16 August 2023

Philippines

Community

Area 300,076 square kilometres (land area 298,170 square kilometres)

Population, In 2000 some 5,500,000 Filipinos were living abroad; this included 2,000,000 in the USA, 850,000 in Saudi Arabia, and 620,000 in Malaysia.

7,635,000 (1903)

16,000,303 (1939)

20,275,000 (1950)

26,275,000 (1960) +29.6%

35,800,000 (1970) +36.3%

47,400,000 (1980) +32.4%

61,950,000 (1990) +30.7%

78,000,000 (2000) +25.9%

93,725,000 (2010) +20.2%

109,581,000 (2020) +16.9%

Religion, %

	Animist	Buddhist	Christian Protestant	Christian R C	Muslim
1940	4.3		2.4	80.0	4.2
1948	1.8		2.3	82.9	4.1
1980	0.7	0.9		84.0	4.3
1990				84.0	5.0
2000			5.0	82.0	5.0
2010			10.8	80.6	5.6

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	% Aged Under 15	% Aged Over 65	% Urban
1950		49.0 (+29.0)	100.0	20.0	43.1	4.5	19.9
1960	7.1	44.0 (+32.8)	67.0	11.2	47.0	3.1	30.3
1970	6.3	39.2 (+30.3)	55.5	8.9	46.0	3.0	33.0
1980	5.2	37.0 (+28.8)	53.0	8.2	43.1	3.2	37.5
1990	4.3	33.0 (+26.4)	40.8	6.6	40.9	3.1	48.6
2000	3.8	29.8 (+23.9)	30.0	5.9	38.5	3.3	48.0
2010	3.2	24.8 (+18.6)	24.9	6.2	33.9	4.1	45.3
2015	2.8	23.4 (+16.9)	23.7	6.5	32.2	4.6	46.2
2017	2.6	21.0 (+14.5)	22.9	6.5
2018			22.5		31.0	5.1	46.9

Life expectancy,

51.1 (1948); 48.8 (M), 53.4 (F)

57.8 (1960); 56.6 (M), 59.1 (F)

60.8 (1970); 59.1 (M), 62.6 (F)

62.2 (1980); 59.9 (M), 64.6 (F)

65.3 (1990); 62.6 (M), 68.0 (F)

67.2 (2000); 64.2 (M), 70.3 (F)

68.4 (2010); 65.1 (M), 71.8 (F)

71.3 (2020); 67.3 (M), 75.6 (F)

Population of principal cities, 1,000s MA = Metropolitan Area

	Caloocan	Davao	MA	MANILA^1	MA	Quezon City^2
1860				150
1890				182
1900	8			245
1940	38	103		685
1950	60	124		1,000
1960	146	226		1,140	3,200	398
1970	274	320		1,330		750
1980	468	610		1,630	5,926	1,166
1990	761	850		1,600	8,000	1,221
2000	1,233	1,147		1,673	10,546	1,482
2010		1,490				1,741
2015	1,584	1,633	2,516	1,780	12,877	1,857

¹Manila was founded in 1571 by the Spanish; it was the capital city until replaced by Quezon City in 1948. Manila became the capital again in 1976. The city�s name derives from the Tagalog may (here is) and nila (indigo), from dyes obtained locally.

²Quezon City was capital of the Philippines from 1948 to 1976.

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1948	799	0.36	41	2.69
1956	4,150	1.16
1960	6,690	1.23	255	8.48
1965	7,091	0.95	187	4.89
1970	6,580	0.63	179	3.41
1975	14,960	0.91	356	4.55
1980	32,450	1.16	672	5.33
1985	30,730	0.73	562	3.08
1990	44,160	0.76	718	3.00
1995	74,120	1.00	1,072	3.57
2000	75,190	0.75	979	2.69
2005	98,300	0.75	1,200	2.71
2010	200,000	1.34	2,130	4.40
2015	292,750	1.62	2,880	5.12
2016	304,900	1.64	2,950	5.13

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1960		61.0		15.0		37.0
1980	22.0	46.0	24.6	17.2	55.0	37.0
1990	28.9	43.4	30.3	13.4	42.0	44.1
2000	16.9	40.0	31.6	10.0	51.5	50.0
2010	13.9	33.0	31.3	15.0	54.8	52.0
2016	9.7	26.9	30.8	17.5	59.5	55.6

Communications

Language %; Official; English, Filipino

	Cebuano	English	Filipino	Ilocano	Tagalog
1950		25.0			17.5M
1980		45.0
1990	24.3		27.9M*	9.8
2007	23.3		29.3	9.3
2010	21.3 M			8.8 M	24.4 M

*as mother tongue. In total, 55.0% could speak Filipino.

Literacy �

5.0% (1900)

48.8% (1939)

50.0% (1941)

72.0% (1960)

83.0% (1980); 84.6% (M), 82.2% (F)

83.3% (1990); 83.9% (M), 82.8% (F)

95.1% (2000); 95.3% (M), 95.0% (F)

96.3% (2015); 95.8% (M), 96.3% (F)

Physical communications � roads

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles
1939	22,780
1945				2,661	5,480
1952	28,800	24,500
1955			120,800	58,700
1958	35,204		160,000
1962				86,176	73,203
1965	56,180		303,300
1975	103,000		750,000
1977	119,220
1985	161,709		1,120,172	350,000
1995	187,608		2,581,300	626,600	192,800
2002	202,124			749,555
2007			2,882,000	937,600	1,875,300
2009	213,151		3,019,000
2013			7,690,000
2014	216,387	61,093	8,081,200
2015			8,706,600*	962,400
2016			9,251,600**	971,800

*Includes 4,877,000 motorbikes.� **Includes 5,329,900 motorbikes

Railways; First railway opened 1892, 195 km, Manila to Dagupan.

Length, kilometres

195 (1900)

857 (1910)

1,243 (1920)

1,311 (1930)

1,352 (1940)

1,058 (1950)

1,026 (1965)

1,026 (1975)

499 (1985)

429 (1995)

419 (2005)

484 (2015)

Urban metro systems, kilometres

Manila, (opened 1984)

45.0 (2010)

Electronic communications, �TV broadcasting began 23 October 1953 (colour from 1966)

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios 1,000s	Televisions 1,000s	PCs	Internet Users
1938	24,046		29
1950			79
1960	99,973		600
1961				45
1962	128,149
1968	207,593
1975	284,000
1976			1,875	800
1980	420,000		2,000	1,000
1988					120,000
1990	610,000		8,600	2,700	210,000
1991		34,600
1995		493,900	10,000	3,300	660,000
1992						320,000
2000	3,061,400	6,450,000	12,400	13,000	1,480,000	1,800,000
2005		34,780,000			5,000,000	4,800,000
2010	6,783,000	92,227,000				18,000,000
2014						37,600,000
2016	3,835,911	113,000,000				56,960,000

Tourism: Visitors to the Philippines,

1,008,159 (1980)

878,000 (1982)

773,074 (1985)

1,025,000 (1990)

1,760,000 (1995)

1,992,000 (2000)

2,623,000 (2005)

3,520,000 (2010)

5,361,000 (2015)