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Philippines Geography 2012

SOURCE: 2012 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES











Philippines Geography 2012
SOURCE: 2012 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES


Page last updated on February 23,

Location:
Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam

Geographic coordinates:
13 00 N, 122 00 E

Map references:
Southeast Asia

Area:
total: 300,000 sq km
[see also: Area - total country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 73
land: 298,170 sq km
[see also: Area - land country ranks ]
water: 1,830 sq km
[see also: Area - water country ranks ]

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than Arizona

Land boundaries:
0 km
[see also: Land boundaries country ranks ]

Coastline:
36,289 km
[see also: Coastline country ranks ]

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: irregular polygon extending up to 100 nm from coastline as defined by 1898 treaty; since late 1970s has also claimed polygonal-shaped area in South China Sea up to 285 nm in breadth
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: to depth of exploitation

Climate:
tropical marine; northeast monsoon (November to April); southwest monsoon (May to October)
More Climate Details

Terrain:
mostly mountains with narrow to extensive coastal lowlands

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Philippine Sea 0 m
[see also: Elevation extremes - lowest point country ranks ]
highest point: Mount Apo 2,954 m
[see also: Elevation extremes - highest point country ranks ]

Natural resources:
timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt, copper

Land use:
arable land: 19%
[see also: Land use - arable land country ranks ]
permanent crops: 16.67%
[see also: Land use - permanent crops country ranks ]
other: 64.33% (2005)
[see also: Land use - other country ranks ]

Irrigated land:
152,500 sq km (2008)
[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]

Total renewable water resources:
479 cu km (1999)
[see also: Total renewable water resources country ranks ]

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
total: 28.52 cu km/yr (17%/9%/74%)
[see also: Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) - total country ranks ]
per capita: 343 cu m/yr (2000)
[see also: Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) - per capita country ranks ]

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
volcanism: the Philippines experience significant volcanic activity; Taal (elev. 311 m), which has shown recent unrest and may erupt in the near future, has been deemed a "Decade Volcano" by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; Mayon (elev. 2,462 m), the country's most active volcano, erupted in 2009 forcing over 33,000 to be evacuated; other historically active volcanoes include Biliran, Babuyan Claro, Bulusan, Camiguin, Camiguin de Babuyanes, Didicas, Iraya, Jolo, Kanlaon, Makaturing, Musuan, Parker, Pinatubo and Ragang

Environment - current issues:
uncontrolled deforestation especially in watershed areas; soil erosion; air and water pollution in major urban centers; coral reef degradation; increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps that are important fish breeding grounds

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants

Geography - note:
the Philippine archipelago is made up of 7,107 islands; 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


NOTE: 1) The information regarding Philippines on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Philippines Geography 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Philippines Geography 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
  a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
  b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order






This page was last modified 07-Mar-12
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