Irrigated land: 15,800 sq km (1993 est.)
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
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
Environment—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, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol,
Desertification
People
Population: 79,345,812 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 37% (male 15,057,698; female 14,555,430)
15-64 years: 59% (male 23,168,043; female 23,715,877)
65 years and over: 4% (male 1,269,522; female 1,579,242) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.04% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 27.88 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 6.45 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)