The Philippines, known as the Pearl of the Orient, is an archipelago of 7107 islands, bounded on the west by the South China Sea, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Sulu and Celebes Sea, and on the north by the Bashi Channel. The northernmost islands are about 240 km south of Taiwan and the southernmost islands approximately 24 km from Borneo. The country has a total land area of some 300 000 km2. It is divided into three geographical areas: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It has 17 regions, 79 provinces, 115 cities, 1495 municipalities and 41 956 barangays (the smallest geographic and political unit). It has over 100 ethnic groups and a myriad of foreign influences (including Malay, Chinese, Spanish and American).

The last official census (2000) put the population at 76 498 735. However, the National Statistics Office Population Projections Unit estimated it to be 81 081 457 in 2003. The annual population growth rate (1995–2000) is 2.36% (a reduction from the 1980s). The population is young: 38% are under 15 years old and only 3.5% over 65 years. Most (83%) of the population is Catholic. The literacy rate is fairly high at 95.1% for males and 94.6% for females, which possibly accounts for the facility with which Filipinos find work abroad. Labour is, in fact, a prime export of the country.

More than half of the Philippine population resides in Luzon. Within that area, the National Capital Region (NCR) has 12.9% of the national population (9 906 048 inhabitants in 61 728 km2 of land). It is composed of 13 cities, 4 municipalities and 1693 barangays. Three cities in the NCR have emerged as the most populous: Quezon City, Manila and Caloocan, which have populations of 2.17 million, 1.58 million and 1.18 million, respectively. Among the provinces, Pangasinan is the most populous, with 2.43 million, followed by Cebu, with 2.37 million and Bulacan, with 2.23 million people.

Opportunities brought about by economic development vary from region to region and this has affected internal migration. In 1980, about 37% of the total population resided in urban areas. By 1990, the urban proportion of the population had increased to 49%, with the NCR getting the bulk of this population increase.