Philippines Facts for Kids

Interesting Facts for Kids

Palawan - Tarsier - Jeppney

Here are some interesting Philippines Facts which were chosen and researched by kids especially for kids.

• Population: 117 million people live in the Philippines (2024)
• Capital: Manila (metropolitan area with 15 million inhabitants)
• Government: Presidential Republic
• National Holiday: 12 June (Independence Day)

• Language: Filipino and English
  
• Literacy: 98% of the population over 15 years of age can read and write
• Religion: Most people are Christians (92%)
• Currency: 1 Philippines Peso (PHP) = 100 centavos

• National symbols: three stars and sun, Philippine eagle (national bird). 
• National colours: red, white, blue and yellow
• National anthem: "Lupang Hinirang" (Chosen Land)
• History: The Philippines gained independence from Spain in 1898 and on 4 July 1946 independence from the USA
  

Philippines Facts | Geography 

The Philippines is an archipelago in Southeast Asia. The archipelago is located in the Philippine Sea between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

There are 7,107 islands in the Philippines but only about 2,000 of them are inhabited. The country has a coastline of 36,289 km/ 22,548 miles and does not have land borders.

The capital city of the Philippines is Manila. 

Manila

One of the ten largest island countries in the world is slightly larger than the state of Arizona/USA or about the size of Italy.

Philippines Facts
Philippines Geography for Kids

• The largest island of the Philippines is Luzon. This is the northernmost island also the most populated island of the Philippines.
• There are three main island groups: Luzon, Mindanao and Visayas.
• The longest river of the Philippines is the Rio Grande or Cagayan River on Luzon island with a length of 505 km/ 314 miles.
• The highest mountain is Mount Apo with 2,954 m/ 9,692 ft. This is a volcano located on Mindanao island.

Mount Apo

• Many active volcanoes are located on the Philippine islands. Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991 and this is considered the world’s second largest eruption of the 20th century.

Philippines Facts
Attractions & Landmarks

Fort Santiago in Manila

Volcano Mayon

Chocolate Hills on Bohol

Coron island in Palawan

Pagsanjang Waterfalls

Batad Riceterraces

Quezon Memorial - image by Matthew Roberge

Philippines Facts
People of the Philippines

Manila is the main business centre of the Philippines. Quezon City, however, is the biggest city with about 3 million inhabitants and located within the metropolitan city of Manila.

The metropolitan area of Manila which is located on Luzon island houses about 13% of the population, about 14 million people.

Makati is part of the metropolitan area of Manila

The three largest cities in the Philippines are:

• Manila Metro Region: 14 million 
• Davao: 1.8 million
• Cebu City: 1 million 

Almost half of the country is used for agriculture and forests account for about one quarter of the land area. 

Luzon, Cebu and Negros are the most populated islands.

Christianity is the dominant religion in the Philippines, about 80% of the people are Roman Catholics.

Jeppney in front of the Minor Basilica in Manila

17% of the people live below the poverty line. 7 million children malnourished. 

Schooling is compulsory in the Philippines for twelve years. 

School children in the Philippines - image by Sergey Podlesnov/shutterstock.com

Football, volleyball, tennis, basketball and martial arts are popular sports in the Philippines. The national sport is called Arnis, this is a martial arts sport which includes stick-fighting.

Philippines Facts | Languages

Filipino and English are the official languages in the Philippines. Filipino is a standard language which is based on Tagalog.

Over 100 languages are spoken in the Philippines but nineteen regional indigenous languages are used in many communities to ease communicating with each other.  Among the most spoken languages are Tagalog, Bikol, Pangasinense, Cebuano or Waray.  

Philippines Facts | Philippines Economy

About 48% of the country’s population live in urbanised areas or near the coast and in areas with good farmland. About one quarter of the people work in the agricultural centre. 

Agricultural produce include sugar cane, coconuts, vegetables and tropical fruits and rice.

Working on a rice field in the Philippines

Among the main resources are copper, gold, silver and nickel. The Philippines house the world’s largest resources of palladium, a rare metal. Among the main export products are also sugar, coconuts, electronics, transport equipment and minerals.

The main trading partners are Japan, the USA, China, South Korea and Germany.

The Philippines are the world’s second largest producer of biothermal energy.

Philippines Facts | Food in the Philippines

The Philippine cuisine is very varied and consists of rice and vegetable dishes as well as many dishes containing fish, seafood, chicken, pork or beef. Crocodile meat is sometimes considered a specialty.

Typical dishes include spices such as ginger and garlic as well as soy sauce or fish sauce and rice vinegar. Here are some typical Filipino dishes:

Pancit or pansit which is a fried noodle dish

• adobo: chicken or pork meat marinated in soy sauce, vinegar and spices such as bay leaf, peppercorn, ginger and garlic
• kaldereta: beef stew usually made with bell peppers, carrots and potatoes
• chicken tinola: chicken soup with green papaya
• pansit: fried noodle dish with many variations 
• lumpia: Filipino version of a spring roll usually dunked in a sweet and sour sauce

Halo halo with purple ube ice-cream

• halo-halo: desert with fruits, sweet beans and multicoloured shaved ice topped with evaporated milk and often purple ice-cream. 
• ube ice-cream: The purple colour comes from using ube, which are purple coloured sweet yams

Kain na! as they say in Tagalog. Let’s eat! Come eat with us!

Philippines Facts 
Animals in the Philippines

The Philippines belong to the 17 megadiverse countries of our planet. 

The rainforests of the Philippines house over 500 species of birds, more than a third of the bird species are not found anywhere else in the world. There are also about 100 mammal species that only can be found on the Philippines. 

Many indigenous species are endangered, such as the Philippine tarsier. 

Tarsier

Tarsiers are unique to rainforest areas, but today they only exist in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. On the Philippine islands there are only about 700 tarsiers left.

Philippines Flora

There are about 13,500 plant species with over 8,500 species of flowering plants. Over 3,000 plant species are only found on the Philippines. The Philippine rainforests are known for its unique orchids of which there are over 500 species.

Essays about the Philippines

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Philippines Facts - Resources

These are the resources that were used for this article about the most important Philippines Facts:

• Philippines Tourism. "Welcome to the Philippines." PhilippinesTourism. Last accessed 30 November 2024
  
• Central Intelligence Agency. "Philippines". World Fact Book. Last updated 26 November 2024. Last accessed 30 November 2024
• Department of Tourism. "Foodie Heaven." Its' more fun in the Philippines. Last accessed 30 November 2024

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Picture credits in main text on Philippines Facts:  shutterstock.com

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