PHILIPPINES. – Archipelago of 7,083 islands, which closes off to the south the South China Sea. It has a surface area of 295,285 sq. km. (slightly less than Italy) with a population of 19.5 million (66 per sq. km.).
The islands are mostly of volcanic origin and traversed by mountains; vast alluvial plains are not lacking, however. The climate is equatorial, with monsoon rains; the vegetation is remarkably lush (69% of the soil covered by forest). Among the crops, rice and corn predominate, intended for domestic consumption; sugar cane, tobacco, hemp (abaca), and the cacao palm, which feed the export trade—especially the latter, for which the Philippines enjoy a world primacy. The livestock patrimony is decent (swine, buffalo), fishing yields notable profits, and the forestal (precious woods) and mineral riches (gold, silver, coal, iron, chromite, manganese, copper, etc.) are enormous, though barely tapped; industrial development, moreover, is still very modest.