| Location | Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam |
| Geographic coordinates | 13 00 N, 122 00 E |
| Map references | Southeast Asia |
| Area | total: 300,000 sq km land: 298,170 sq km water: 1,830 sq km |
| Area - comparative | slightly less than twice the size of Georgia; slightly larger than Arizona |
| Land boundaries | total: 0 km |
| Coastline | 36,289 km |
| Maritime claims | territorial sea: irregular polygon extending up to 100 nm from coastline as defined by 1898 treaty; since late 1970s has also claimed polygonal-shaped area in South China Sea as wide as 285 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: to the depth of exploitation |
| Climate | tropical marine; northeast monsoon (November to April); southwest monsoon (May to October) |
| Terrain | mostly mountains with narrow to extensive coastal lowlands |
| Elevation extremes | highest point: Mount Apo 2,954 m lowest point: Philippine Sea 0 m mean elevation: 442 m |
| Natural resources | timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt, copper |
| Land use | agricultural land: 41% (2018 est.) arable land: 18.2% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 17.8% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 5% (2018 est.) forest: 25.9% (2018 est.) other: 33.1% (2018 est.) |
| Irrigated land | 16,270 sq km (2012) |
| Total renewable water resources | 479 billion cubic meters (2017 est.) |
| Natural hazards | astride typhoon belt, usually affected by 15 and struck by five to six cyclonic storms each year; landslides; active volcanoes; destructive earthquakes; tsunamis volcanism: significant volcanic activity; Taal (311 m), which has shown recent unrest and may erupt in the near future, has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; Mayon (2,462 m), the country's most active volcano, erupted in 2009 forcing over 33,000 to be evacuated; other historically active volcanoes include Biliran, Babuyan Claro, Bulusan, Camiguin, Camiguin de Babuyanes, Didicas, Iraya, Jolo, Kanlaon, Makaturing, Musuan, Parker, Pinatubo, and Ragang; see note 2 under "Geography - note" |
| Geography - note | note 1: for decades, the Philippine archipelago was reported as having 7,107 islands; in 2016, the national mapping authority reported that hundreds of new islands had been discovered and increased the number of islands to 7,641 - though not all of the new islands have been verified; the country is favorably located in relation to many of Southeast Asia's main water bodies: the South China Sea, Philippine Sea, Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea, and Luzon Strait note 2: Philippines is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and some 75% of the world's volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire note 3: the Philippines sits astride the Pacific typhoon belt and an average of 9 typhoons make landfall on the islands each year - with about 5 of these being destructive; the country is the most exposed in the world to tropical storms |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
