Irrigated land:
15,500 sq km (1998 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 that are important fish breeding grounds
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber
83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note:
favorably located in relation to many of Southeast Asia's main
water bodies: the South China Sea, Philippine Sea, Sulu Sea, Celebes
Sea, and Luzon Strait
People Philippines
Population:
84,619,974 (July 2003 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 36.2% (male 15,625,480; female 15,028,498)
15-64 years: 59.9% (male 25,206,467; female 25,485,482)
65 years and over: 3.9% (male 1,427,238; female 1,846,809) (2003
est.)
Median age: total: 21.8 years male: 21.3 years female: 22.4 years (2002)
Population growth rate:
1.92% (2003 est.)