52 Facts About Philippines

The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a Southeast Asian archipelago.

The Philippines cover an area of 300,000 square kilometres.

Manila is the country's capital, and Quezon City is its largest city.

The official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and English.

The Philippine peso (PHP) is the country's official currency.

The Philippines is the world's third-largest English-speaking country.

The Philippines are the world's second largest archipelago, with over 7,100 islands.

The country is divided into three distinct geographical regions. The capital city of Manila is located on the large island of Luzon to the north. Mindanao is the large southern island. The Visayas are a group of islands located in the middle between them.

The Philippine flag has three stars to represent the three regions of the country.

The country has the world's fifth most extensive coastline.

The Philippines, located on the western edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire, has hundreds of volcanoes and an average of 20 earthquakes per day (most of which are so faint that they cannot be felt). Mount Pinatubo, Taal Volcano, and Mayon Volcano are the three most active volcanoes.

In prehistoric times, the Negritos were the area's first inhabitants (and nomadic tribes still live in the tropical forests today).

For over 300 years, the Philippines was a Spanish colony.

Japan seizes the Philippines at the start of World War II in 1941; US forces retake the islands in 1944. The islands are granted full independence in 1946, becoming the first Southeast Asian country to do so after the war, and are renamed the Republic of the Philippines.

Ferdinand Marcos is elected president in 1965 and declares martial law seven years later. He lives lavishly, while the people are impoverished. In 1986, a "people power" revolt over a rigged election deposes him.

Hundreds of Muslim rebels register to vote in the 2016 elections in the southern Philippines in 2015, as part of a peace treaty signed to end a 40-year conflict.

There are 184 distinct languages spoken in the Philippines, but Filipino (Tagalog) and English are the official languages.

Though the Philippines is officially a secular state, Christianity is the dominant faith, with over 80 percent of the population being Catholic.

The Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company is preserving traditional Philippine folk dances such as the "sigil" and the "tinkling" (which feature clashing bamboo poles and jumping patterns).

Filipinos still dress up and wear their national costumes for special occasions, with women wearing terns (long dresses with flared skirts and butterfly sleeves) and men wearing slacks and a "barong tagalong," a special shirt with sleeves made of pineapple pulp.

The adobo, a stew of port or chicken cooked with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, and peppercorns, may be the Philippines' national dish. Singing, halo-halo, lumpier, fish sauce, and milkfish are also popular dishes.

Rice is essential in the Filipino diet and can be eaten at any time of day.

For their compulsory education, children attend elementary school for six years and high school for four years.

The University of Santo Tomas in Manila was established in 1611, and the University of San Carlos in 1595, making them both older than Harvard University, which was established in 1636.

The majority of university students in the Philippines are female; they earn two-thirds of all master's degrees and nearly all doctorates.

Basketball is the most popular sport in the Philippines, but cockfighting (or sabong) is also popular (particularly with men).

Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines is currently regarded as the world's best boxer, and when his fights are broadcast on television, crime in cities drops to near zero.

Filipinos place a high value on social media. The Philippines is now regarded as the world's text capital. Residents send more than 450 million SMS messages per day, outnumbering daily texts sent in Europe and the United States combined.

The birth of a baby girl on July 27, 2014, officially increased the Philippines' population to 100 million. The Philippians were the world's twelfth country to reach this milestone.

The island of Luzon is estimated to house half of the Philippines' population. Manila has the highest population density.

The Philippines provides approximately 25% of all overseas nurses available worldwide to the rest of the world.

Human trafficking is a problem in the Philippines. It has the world's fourth highest number of prostituted children. The sex trade employs an estimated 375,000 girls and women. They are between the ages of 15 and 20, with some as young as 11 years old.

The national bird of the Philippines, the monkey-eating eagle, is the country's national symbol (or Philippine eagle). Because this eagle is critically endangered, killing one is punishable by a 12-year prison sentence and a large fine. It is believed that only 180 to 500 of these eagles remain.

Skunks are only found outside of America in Indonesia and the Philippines, where they are known as stink badgers.

Mount Pinatubo erupted in June 1991, creating a 25-mile-high mushroom cloud of ash. The consequences of this destructive eruption were felt all over the world, as 20 million tonnes of toxic sulphur dioxide remained in the earth's atmosphere for more than a year, lowering its temperature by a degree during that time. When it erupted, it injured 184 people and killed over 847, leaving over a million people homeless.

When the Philippines is at war, its flag is flown upside down for the first time in history.

Except for snakes (cobras and pythons), birds of prey (such as the monkey-eating eagle), and salt water crocodiles, the Philippines has no large predator animals.

The Philippines is thought to have one of the world's largest copper deposits and the second-largest gold deposit after South Africa.

The country is the world's second-largest producer of geothermal energy (after the U.S.).

Because of its vast and diverse range of flora and fauna, the Philippines is one of the world's ten most biologically diverse countries, with more than 170 species of birds and 100 species of mammals found nowhere else on the planet.

The Philippines has one of the world's highest rates of discovery, with sixteen new mammal species discovered in the last decade.

The Philippines' waters are home to seven of the world's eight giant clam species.

The Philippines are home to the world's most expensive and rare seashell. The Conus gloriamus was auctioned off for around $5,000.

The Cordilllera rice terraces have been preserved in their pre-colonial state and are regarded as the world's eighth wonder by Filipinos. They were constructed over 2,000 years ago and are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The country not only has the world's longest snake, but also the world's longest reptile. The Reticulated Python can grow to be nearly 29 feet long in total.

Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, gets its name from the Nilad, a tree with star-shaped white flowers that is also known as the Indigo tree because it produces blue dye.

After WWII, the Jeeps that American GIs drove in the Philippines were abandoned and converted into the Philippine Jeepney, which could carry multiple passengers. Today's second and third generation Jeepneys have air conditioning and resemble colourful minibuses.

The Philippine islands are home to three of the world's top ten largest shopping malls. SM Mall of Asia, SM North Edsa, and SM Megamall are the three.

Filipino Pedro Flores popularised the yo-yo as a toy, but it actually originated as an ancient studded hunting weapon attached to a long rope. The name is derived from the Ilocano language and means "return".

Dr. Abelardo Aguilar of the Philippines invented the antibiotic erythromycin in 1949. When he sent a sample to his employer, the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company, it was quickly patented. It is used to treat people who are allergic to penicillin and has saved the lives of millions of people.

Roberto del Rosario, a Filipino, patented the "Sing Along System," the first working karaoke machine, in 1975. The name was later shortened to "karaoke," which means "singing without accompaniment" in Japanese.

Ferdinand Marcos, the country's first elected president, died more than two decades ago and has yet to be properly buried.