Regions of the Philippines

In the Philippines, **regions** (Filipino: _rehiyon_) are administrative divisions that serve primarily to organize the provinces (Filipino: _lalawigan, probinsiya_) of the country for administrative convenience. Most government offices are established by region instead of individual provincial offices, usually (but not always) in the city that is the regional center.

The regions themselves do not possess a separate local government, with the exception of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which has an elected regional assembly and governor.

## List of regions

The Philippines has 17 administrative regions. Fourteen of these regions are designated with numbers corresponding to their geographic location in order from north to south. The National Capital Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao do not have numerical designations.

These regions are geographically combined into the three island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Following is a list of the regions in their island groupings.

The regions CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, and SOCCSKSARGEN are written with upper case characters because they are acronyms that stand for their component provinces or cities. CALABARZON stands for **CA**vite, **LA**guna, **BA**tangas, **R**izal and Que**ZON**; MIMAROPA stands for Occidental and Oriental **MI**ndoro, **MA**rinduque, **RO**mblon and  **PA**lawan; and SOCCSKSARGEN stands for **SO**uth **C**otabato, **C**otabato, **S**ultan **K**udarat, **SAR**angani and **GEN**eral Santos.

|width="10%"|Map|width="26%"|Region <small>(short name)</small>|width="18%"|Regional center|width="18%"|Provinces|width="18%"|Languages|width="9%"|Area (km<sup>2</sup>)|width="9%"|Population (2010)|width="14%"|Density (per km<sup>2</sup>)|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="7"|Island group: **Luzon** (***Northern Philippines***)|||||||||||||||
|align=center||align=center|**National Capital Region** <small>(NCR)</small>|align=left|***Manila***|-|Filipino|636|11,855,975|||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Cordillera** <small>(CAR)</small>|align=left|Baguio|align=left|*Abra *Apayao *Baguio *Benguet *Ifugao *Kalinga *Mountain Province|Ilocano dialects|18,294|1,616,867||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Ilocos** <small>(Region I)</small>|align=left|San Fernando, La Union|align=left|*Ilocos Norte *Ilocos Sur *La Union *Pangasinan|Ilocano Pangasinense|12,840|4,748,372||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Cagayan Valley** <small>(Region II)</small>|align=left|Tuguegarao|align=left|*Batanes *Cagayan *Isabela *Nueva Vizcaya *Quirino *Santiago|Ilocano dialects|26,838|3,229,163||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Central Luzon** <small>(Region III)</small>|align=left|San Fernando, Pampanga|align=left|*Angeles City *Aurora *Bataan *Bulacan *Nueva Ecija *Olongapo *Pampanga *Tarlac *Zambales|Bulacan Tagalog Kapampangan|21,470|10,137,737||||||
|align=center||align=center|**CALABARZON** <small>(Region IV-A)</small>|align=left|Calamba City|align=left|*Batangas *Cavite *Laguna *Lucena City *Quezon *Rizal|Tagalog|16,229|12,609,803||||||
|align=center||align=center|**MIMAROPA** <small>(Region IV-B)</small>|align=left|Calapan|align=left|*Marinduque *Occidental Mindoro *Oriental Mindoro *Palawan *Puerto Princesa *Romblon|Batangas Tagalog Visayan Hilitribal|27,456|2,744,671||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Bicol** <small>(Region V)</small>|align=left|Legazpi|align=left|*Albay *Camarines Norte *Camarines Sur *Catanduanes *Masbate *Naga *Sorsogon|Bicolano Masbateño|17,632|5,420,411||||||
|colspan="7"|Island group: **Visayas** (***Central Philippines***)|||||||||||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Western Visayas** <small>(Region VI)</small>|align=left|Iloilo City|align=left|*Aklan *Antique *Bacolod *Capiz *Guimaras *Iloilo *Iloilo City *Negros Occidental|Aklanon Capiznon Karay-a Hiligaynon|20,223|7,102,438||||||
||align=center|**Central Visayas** <small>(Region VII)</small>|align=left|**Cebu City**|align=left|*Bohol *Cebu *Cebu City *Lapu-Lapu City *Mandaue *Negros Oriental *Siquijor|Cebuano Boholano Negrense|14,951|6,800,180|||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Eastern Visayas** <small>(Region VIII)</small>|align=left|Tacloban|align=left|*Biliran *Eastern Samar *Leyte *Northern Samar *Ormoc *Samar *Southern Leyte *Tacloban|Waray Cebuano|21,432|4,101,322||||||
|colspan="7"|Island group: **Mindanao** (***Southern Philippines***)|||||||||||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Zamboanga** <small>(Region IX)</small>|align=left|Pagadian|align=left|*Isabela City *Zamboanga City *Zamboanga del Norte *Zamboanga del Sur *Zamboanga Sibugay|Mindanao Cebuano Chavacano|14,811|3,407,353||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Northern Mindanao** <small>(Region X)</small>|align=left|Cagayan de Oro|align=left|*Bukidnon *Cagayan de Oro *Camiguin *Iligan City *Lanao del Norte *Misamis Occidental *Misamis Oriental|Mindanao Cebuano Mindanao Hiligaynon|17,125|4,297,323||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Davao** <small>(Region XI)</small>|align=left|**Davao City**|align=left|*Davao de Oro *Davao City *Davao del Norte *Davao del Sur *Davao Oriental *Davao Occidental|Davaoeño Cebuano Davaoeño Mindanao Cebuano|20,244|4,468,563||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Cotabato** <small>(Region XII)</small>|align=left|Koronadal|align=left|*Cotabato *Cotabato City *General Santos *Sarangani *South Cotabato *Sultan Kudarat|Mindanao Hiligaynon Mindanao Cebuano|18,433|4,109,571||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Caraga** <small>(Region XIII)</small>|align=left|Butuan|align=left|*Agusan del Norte *Agusan del Sur *Butuan *Dinagat Islands *Surigao del Norte *Surigao del Sur|Mindanao Cebuano Surigaonon Kamayo|18,847|2,429,224||||||
|align=center||align=center|**Bangsamoro** <small>(BARMM)</small>|align=left|Cotabato City|align=left|*Basilan (excluding Isabela City) *Lanao del Sur *Maguindanao *Sulu *Tawi-Tawi|Maguindanaonon Tausug|12,695|3,256,140||||||

## Related pages

- Provinces of the Philippines

## Other websites

- National Statistical Coordination Board
- National Statistics Office

## Infobox (subdivision type)

- **name**: Regions of the Philippines
- **map**: Ph regions and provinces.svg
- **caption**: Administrative map of the Philippines
- **category**: Region
- **territory**: Philippines
- **status**: Administrative region
Autonomous regions of the Philippines, Autonomous region
- **current number**: 18
- **number date**: 2024
- **population range**: **Smallest:** 1,791,121 (Cordillera Administrative Region, CAR)
**Largest:** 16,139,770 (Calabarzon)
- **area range**: **Smallest:**  (Metro Manila, NCR)
**Largest:**  (Mimaropa)
- **government**: Regional development council
Metropolitan development authority
Autonomous regional government
- **subdivision**: Provinces of the Philippines, Provinces
Cities of the Philippines, Independent cities