Provinces of the Philippines

The Provinces of the Philippines are the main political and administrative divisions of the Philippines. There are 82 provinces at present. The provinces are divided into cities and municipalities. The National Capital Region, as well as independent cities, are separate from any provincial government. Each province has a governor.

The provinces are grouped into seventeen regions based on geographical, cultural, and ethnological characteristics. Fourteen of these regions are designated with numbers corresponding to their geographic location in order from north to south. The National Capital Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao do not have numerical designations.

Each province is member to the League of Provinces of the Philippines, an organization which aims to address issues affecting provincial and metropolitan government administrations.^[1]

List of provinces

Province	Capital	Largest settlement	Region	Population (2020)	Population rank	Area (km²)	Area rank	Pop. density (per km²)	Pop. density rank
Abra	Bangued		CAR	250,985	69	4,198.20	33	55.01	76
Agusan del Norte^[2]	Cabadbaran^[3]	Butuan City^[4]	Region XIII	760,413	45	3,546.86	40	172.66	49
Agusan del Sur	Prosperidad	Bayugan City	Region XIII	739,367	46	9,989.52	5	61.01	73
Aklan	Kalibo		Region VI	615,475	54	1,821.42	66	271.83	24
Albay	Legazpi		Region V	1,374,768	24	2,565.77	57	464.12	11
Antique	San Jose de Buenavista		Region VI	612,974	55	2,729.17	53	188.8	44
Apayao	Kabugao^[5]	Conner	CAR	124,366	79	4,351.23	31	23.82	79
Aurora	Baler	Maria Aurora	Region III	235,750	71	3,147.32	47	59.67	74
Basilan	Lamitan	Isabela	BARMM^[6]	556,586	59	2,217.13	59	223.94	37
Bataan	Balanga	Mariveles	Region III	853,373	38	1,372.98	72	482.27	9
Batanes	Basco		Region II	18,831	82	219.01	80	72.94	69
Batangas	Batangas City	Lipa City	Region IV-A	2,908,494	8	3,119.72	48	719.89	7
Benguet^[7]	La Trinidad	Baguio^[4]	CAR	827,041	40	2,826.59	50	238.61	35
Biliran	Naval		Region VIII	179,312	76	536.01	77	279.9	23
Bohol	Tagbilaran		Region VII	1,394,329	23	4,820.95	26	255.16	30
Bukidnon	Malaybalay	Valencia City	Region X	1,541,308	20	10,498.59	4	113.38	62
Bulacan	Malolos	San Jose Del Monte	Region III	3,708,890	3	2,774.85	51	1018.77	5
Cagayan	Tuguegarao		Region II	1,268,603	26	9,295.75	6	115.38	60
Camarines Norte	Daet		Region V	629,699	52	2,320.07	58	221.45	38
Camarines Sur^[8]	Pili	Naga	Region V	2,068,244	14	5,465.26	19	309.93	20
Camiguin	Mambajao		Region X	92,808	81	237.95	79	341.64	16
Capiz	Roxas		Region VI	804,952	42	2,594.64	56	270.43	25
Catanduanes	Virac		Region V	271,879	68	1,492.16	71	155.99	51
Cavite	Imus^[9]	Dasmariñas	Region IV-A	4,344,829	2	1,512.41	69	1888.88	2
Cebu^[10]	Cebu City^[4]		Region VII	5,151,274	1	5,331.07	22	724.66	6
Cotabato	Kidapawan		Region XII	1,275,185	25	9,008.90	7	124.54	58
Davao de Oro	Nabunturan	Monkayo	Region XI	767,547	44	4,479.77	28	142.28	54
Davao del Norte	Tagum		Region XI	1,125,057	29	3,426.97	44	247.29	32
Davao del Sur^[11]	Digos	Davao City^[4]	Region XI	2,457,430	11	6,667.06	12	327.84	18
Davao Occidental	Malita		Region XI	317,159	66	?	?	?	?
Davao Oriental^[12]	Mati		Region XI	576,343	57	5,670.07	18	85.73	68
Dinagat Islands	San Jose	Basilisa	Region XIII	128,117	78	1,036.34	74	116.58	59
Eastern Samar	Borongan		Region VIII	477,168	63	4,640.73	27	87.3	67
Guimaras	Jordan	Buenavista	Region VI	187,842	75	604.57	76	250.16	31
Ifugao	Lagawe	Alfonso Lista	CAR	207,498	73	2,628.21	54	68.76	72
Ilocos Norte	Laoag		Region I	609,588	56	3,504.30	42	156.17	50
Ilocos Sur	Vigan	Candon	Region I	706,009	48	2,595.96	55	243.55	33
Iloilo^[13]	Iloilo City^[4]		Region VI	2,509,525	10	4,899.35	25	267.19	26
Isabela^[14]	Ilagan		Region II	1,697,050	17	13,778.76	2	101.71	64
Kalinga	Tabuk		CAR	229,570	72	3,231.25	46	56.43	75
La Union	San Fernando		Region I	822,352	41	1,503.75	70	479.45	10
Laguna	Santa Cruz	Calamba	Region IV-A	3,382,193	4	1,823.55	65	1356.44	3
Lanao del Norte^[15]	Tubod	Iligan^[4]	Region X	1,086,017	30	3,824.79	35	221.3	39
Lanao del Sur	Marawi		BARMM	1,195,518	28	12,051.85	3	94.47	65
Leyte^[16]	Tacloban^[4]		Region VIII	2,028,728	15	6,515.05	13	264.32	27
Maguindanao del Norte	Datu Odin Sinsuat	Cotabato City	BARMM	943,500	33	?	?	?	?
Maguindanao del Sur	Buluan		BARMM	723,758	47	?	?	?	?
Marinduque	Boac		Region IV-B	239,207	70	952.58	75	241.07	34
Masbate	Masbate City		Region V	908,920	35	4,151.78	34	185.21	45
Misamis Occidental	Oroquieta	Ozamiz	Region X	617,333	53	2,055.22	63	258.7	29
Misamis Oriental^[17]	Cagayan de Oro^[4]		Region X	1,685,302	18	3,515.70	41	370.58	14
Mountain Province	Bontoc	Bauko	CAR	158,200	77	2,157.38	60	68.91	71
Negros Occidental^[18]	Bacolod^[4]		Region VI	3,223,955	6	7,965.21	9	360.29	15
Negros Oriental	Dumaguete		Region VII	1,432,990	22	5,385.53	21	228.74	36
Northern Samar	Catarman		Region VIII	639,186	51	3,692.93	37	148.87	53
Nueva Ecija	Palayan^[19]	Cabanatuan	Region III	2,310,134	12	5,751.33	17	322.33	19
Nueva Vizcaya	Bayombong		Region II	497,432	62	4,378.80	30	90.86	66
Occidental Mindoro	Mamburao	San Jose	Region IV-B	525,354	61	5,865.71	16	71.87	70
Oriental Mindoro	Calapan		Region IV-B	908,339	36	4,238.38	32	173.6	48
Palawan^[20]	Puerto Princesa^[4]		Region IV-B	1,246,673	27	17,030.75	1	52.41	77
Pampanga^[21]	San Fernando	Angeles City	Region III	2,900,637	9	2,044.99	64	1088.73	4
Pangasinan^[22]	Lingayen	San Carlos	Region I	3,163,190	7	5,451.08	20	485.3	8
Quezon^[23]	Lucena^[4]		Region IV-A	2,229,383	13	8,926.01	8	210.95	41
Quirino	Cabarroguis	Diffun	Region II	203,828	74	3,486.16	43	46.93	78
Rizal^[24]	Antipolo^[25]		Region IV-A	3,330,143	5	1,175.76	73	1942.61	1
Romblon	Romblon	Odiongan	Region IV-B	308,985	67	1,533.45	68	182.45	46
Samar	Catbalogan	Calbayog	Region VIII	793,183	43	6,048.03	14	114.94	61
Sarangani	Alabel	Glan	Region XII	558,946	58	3,601.25	39	132.04	55
Siquijor	Siquijor		Region VII	103,395	80	337.49	78	259.84	28
Sorsogon	Sorsogon City		Region V	828,655	39	2,119.01	62	334.91	17
South Cotabato^[26]	Koronadal	General Santos^[4]	Region XII	1,672,791	19	4,428.81	1	292.81	1
Southern Leyte	Maasin		Region VIII	429,573	65	1,797.22	67	217.47	40
Sultan Kudarat	Isulan	Tacurong City	Region XII	854,052	37	5,251.34	23	128.66	57
Sulu	Jolo		BARMM	1,000,108	32	2,135.25	61	397.93	13
Surigao del Norte	Surigao City		Region XIII	534,636	60	1,972.9	64	207.55	37
Surigao del Sur^[12]	Tandag	Bislig	Region XIII	642,255	50	4,925.18	24	109.91	63
Tarlac	Tarlac City		Region III	1,503,456	21	2,736.64	52	454.37	12
Tawi-Tawi	Bongao^[27]		BARMM	440,276	64	3,426.55	45	131.43	56
Zambales^[28]	Iba	Olongapo^[4]	Region III	909,932	34	3,714.40	36	193.94	43
Zamboanga del Norte	Dipolog		Region IX	1,047,455	31	7,301.00	11	124.26	59
Zamboanga del Sur^[29]	Pagadian	Zamboanga City^[4]	Region IX	2,027,902	16	5,914.16	15	285.53	22
Zamboanga Sibugay	Ipil		Region IX	669,840	49	3,607.75	38	151.39	52
Metro Manila^[24]	Manila (Regional center)	Quezon City	NCR	13,484,462	--	636	--	18747.04	--

NOTES:

All population and land area figures include cities independent from provinces. In this table, they are counted as part of the province to which they are often grouped for statistical purposes, but in actuality they are first-level entities on their own right.
Metro Manila is included for comparison although it is not a province but an administrative region.
Land area figures taken from 2009 IRA computation factors Archived 2011-04-02 at the Wayback Machine.
Population figures taken from "2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH) Population Counts Declared Official by the President". 2020 Census of Population. Philippine Statistics Authority. Retrieved July 18, 2022.

References

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]