Philippines Facts and Numbers

I have set up the fact section very short, I do not want to bore the readers with too many dry numbers,

and otherwise boring facts, there are plenty of good ressources on the net for facts and numbers about

the Philippines, I will include some links to good facts web sites in the bottom of this page.

   Geography

The Philippines is about 300.000 square km. and consists of more than 7000 islands. Luzon , where Manila

is located, is the main island. The Philippines has an estimated population of about 82.000.000 people, where

about the 16 million live in the capital Manila.

  Language

Literacy in the Philippines is relatively high about 95% of the population can read and write. The Philippines has more than 80 languages and dialects, but english is widely spoken in the country and often used between filipinos of different provinces, with different languages. But english is particularly used in the city. It is the basic

language in business, government, schools and everyday communications.

 Economy

The Peso has halved its value to the US$ within 5 years, they have 41% of the population below the poverty

line, 10% of the working force is unemployed. The Philipines export portfolio includes : Electronic equipment,

 machinery and transport equipment, garments, coconut products.

Weather

Tropical climate tempered by constant sea breezes. There are three distinct seasons: the rainy season where

 typhoons occasionally occur (June to September), cool and dry (October to February), and hot and mainly

dry (March to May). Evenings are cooler.
It is always a good idea to follow the weather forecasts if you are traveling in the rainy season, especially if you are sailing or flying, because the typhoons often causes long delays and cancelations, plus its not safe to travel under extreme weather conditions.

Philippine Flag

The flag of the Philippines is made of two equal horizontal bands of blue (top) and red, with a white equilateral

triangle based on the hoist side. Centered in the triangle is a yellow sun with eight primary rays, which contain

three individual rays. A small yellow five-pointed star is found in each corner of the triangle.
Anthem
The Philippine National Anthem was composed by Julian Felipe in 1898.
He was a Filipino music teacher, and composer of Cavite. You can listen to the Anthem by clicking here. The

anthem was without lyrics for more than a year, first in the middle of 1899 did a young soldier named Jose Palma write the lyrics. the lyrics exist in two versions, and english and a tagalog version. The english version of the

anthemn is called "Beloved Country" and the tagalog is called "Lupang Hinirang".