Natural resources: timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver,
gold, salt, copper
Land use:
arable land: 26%
permanent crops: 11%
meadows and pastures: 4%
forest and woodland: 40%
other: 19%
Irrigated land: 16,200 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: uncontrolled deforestation in watershed areas; soil
erosion; air and water pollution in Manila; increasing pollution of
coastal mangrove swamps which are important fish breeding grounds
natural hazards: astride typhoon belt, usually affected by 15 and
struck by five to six cyclonic storms per year; landslides, active
volcanoes, destructive earthquakes, tsunamis
international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber
83, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified - Desertification, Tropical
Timber 94
People ———
Population: 74,480,848 (July 1996 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 38% (male 14,486,214; female 14,026,873)
15-64 years: 58% (male 21,403,784; female 21,968,259)
65 years and over: 4% (male 1,165,810; female 1,429,908) (July 1996
est.)
Population growth rate: 2.18% (1996 est.)
Birth rate: 29.51 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)
Death rate: 6.66 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)