PH headcount

The monsoon rains that pounded Luzon for days last week displaced so many people because they flooded large areas of the country’s biggest population centers—Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.

The metropolis alone accounts for 13 percent of the total population although it occupies a mere 0.18 percent of the country’s land area. Sandwiched between Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay and intersected by rivers, tributaries and canals, Metro Manila has more than 11.85 million residents.

An average of 19,138 people live on every square kilometer of the metropolis, dwarfing the 269 for the whole country.  Manila itself has the highest population density at 66,087 per sq km.   It is no wonder that the country’s biggest village is found in Metro Manila. Barangay 176 in Caloocan City has more than 243,000 residents, bigger than the respective populations of at least 10 provinces.

The data presented here were derived and compiled by Lawrence de Guzman and Kate Pedroso of Inquirer Research from the 2010 and other census data of the National Statistics Office and the National Statistical Coordination Board.