Metropolitan Manila, The Philippines: Disaster Risk Management Profile

Metro Manila (Kalakhang Maynila), is the capital of the Republic of the Philippines and is officially called the National Capital Region (Pambansang Kabiserang Rehiyon). Although it is the smallest region, it is the most populous and the most densely populated among the Philippines regions. The country itself is a South-east Asian archipelago between the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, east of Vietnam that extends over a 298,170 sq km of land area. Population estimates are 86,241,697 people (July 2004) with a population growth rate of 1.88% (2004 est.). Currently, the Philippines attains a moderate economic growth, buoyed by remittances by its large overseas Filipino workforce, booming information technology industry, and cheap labor in other sectors. Although the GDP expanded from a 0.6% decline in 1998 to 4.2% growth in 2003, 40% of the population were under the poverty line in 2001 1.