A member of the Philippine American Federation Of South Florida
The Philippines is an archipelago in Southeastern Asia composed of 7,107 islands between the Philippine Sea and South China Sea. Its three main islands are Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The land area is 298,000 square km, water area is 1,830 sq. km, and the coastline is 36,289 km. Taiwan, China and Hong Kong are its northern neighbors and further north is Japan. To the west lie Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. To the south are Borneo and the chain of Indonesian islands.
The climate is tropical marine monsoon from November to April and southwest monsoon from May to October. There are only two seasons, wet and dry as per the monsoon rains. The terrain is mostly mountainous with narrow coastal lowlands. Natural hazards include 5-6 cyclonic typhoons per year, landslides, flooding, active volcanoes, destructive earthquakes and tsunamis. Current environmental issues include uncontrolled deforestation especially in watershed areas, soil erosion, air and water pollution in major urban areas, coral reef degradation, increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps that are important in fish breeding grounds.
The current population is estimated at 86,241,697 as of July 2004. 35% are from 0-14 years old, 60.2% are 15-64 years old and 3.9% are 65 years old and over. Median age is 22.1 The population growth rate is estimated at 1.88%. The total fertility rate is 3.22 children per each childbearing woman. There are 25.8 births and 5.53 deaths per 1,000 population. Infant mortality rate is 24.24 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Malnutrition is prevalent in children and there is a high incidence of whooping cough, diptheria, and rabies. Life expectancy is 69.6 years. The leading causes of morbidity are respiratory illnesses including tuberculosis. The leading causes of mortality is cardiovascular and respiratory - related diseases.
The annual per capita poverty threshold was estimated at P11,906 in 2002. With this threshold, a family of five members should have a monthly income of P4,961 to meet its food and non-food basic needs. As of 2001 the population below poverty line is estimated at 40%. In 2003 the Gross Domestic Product growth rate was estimated at 4.5%, inflation rate 3.1% and unemployment rate 11.4%. The economy will have to make appreciable progress in poverty alleviation given the country's high annual population growth rate and unequal distribution of income.
Literacy rate (ability to read and write) is 99.5% but does not reflect the educational level attained. Poverty results to high drop out rate in the elementary and high school Level. The high cost of education prevents low-income students from pursuing higher education. Instead they enter the workforce at an early age.