PHILIPPINES

Missionaries to Philippines:
Bud Lance
Jay Markey

Religion
Roman Catholic 83%, Protestant 9%, Islam 5%, Buddhist and other 3%.

People/Language/Ethnicity
Languages: Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English (both official); regional languages: Tagalog, Ilocano, Cebuano, other. Ethnicity/race: Christian Malay 91.5%, Muslim Malay 4%, Chinese 1.5%, other 3%.

Overview
Area: 115,830 sq mi. The Philippine Islands are an archipelago of over 7,000 islands lying about 500 mi off the southeast coast of Asia. The overall land area is comparable to that of Arizona. Only about 7% of the islands are larger than one square mile, and only one-third have names. The largest are Luzon in the north (40,420 sq mi), Mindanao in the south (36,537 sq mi), and Samar (5,124 sq mi). The islands are of volcanic origin, with the larger ones crossed by mountain ranges.

Population (2003 est.): 84,619,974 (growth rate: 2.1%); Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Manila, 13,790,900 (metro. area), 10,232,900 (city proper)

Economy
Per capita income $4,000. Real growth rate: 2.8%. Inflation: 6%. Unemployment: 10% (2001). Arable land: 18.45%. Agriculture: rice, coconuts, corn, sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, mangoes; pork, eggs, beef; fish. Labor force: 32 million (2000); agriculture 39.8%, government and social services 19.4%, services 17.7%, manufacturing 9.8%, construction 5.8%, other 7.5% (1998 est.). Industries: textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, wood products, food processing, electronics assembly, petroleum refining, fishing. Natural resources: timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt, copper.

Source and Copyright: InfoPlease, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001. The World Factbook 2002.