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 CAvite, LAguna, BAtangas, Rizal and QueZON; MIMAROPA stands for Occidental and Oriental MIndoro, MArinduque, ROmblon and  PAlawan; and SOCCSKSARGEN stands for SOuth Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, SARangani and GENeral Santos.

 Island group: Luzon (Northern Philippines) Map Region(short name) Regional center Provinces Languages Area (km2) Population(2010) Density(per km2)90pxNational Capital Region(NCR)Manila270px - Filipino 636 11,855,975 90pxCordillera(CAR)Baguio270pxAbra
Apayao
BaguioA highly urbanized city, one class of cities in the Philippines, independent from any province.
Benguet
Ifugao
Kalinga
Mountain Province Ilocano dialects 18,294 1,616,867 90pxIlocos(Region I)San Fernando, La Union270pxIlocos Norte
Ilocos Sur
La Union
Pangasinan IlocanoPangasinense 12,840 4,748,372 90pxCagayan Valley(Region II)Tuguegarao270pxBatanes
Cagayan
Isabela
Nueva Vizcaya
Quirino
SantiagoAn independent component city, one class of cities in the Philippines that do not depend of any provincial government. Ilocano dialects 26,838 3,229,163 90pxCentral Luzon(Region III)San Fernando, Pampanga270pxAngeles City
Aurora
Bataan
Bulacan
Nueva Ecija
Olongapo
Pampanga
Tarlac
Zambales Bulacan TagalogKapampangan 21,470 10,137,737 90pxCALABARZON(Region IV-A)Calamba City270pxBatangas
Cavite
Laguna
Lucena City
Quezon
Rizal Tagalog 16,229 12,609,803 90pxMIMAROPA(Region IV-B)Calapan270pxMarinduque
Occidental Mindoro
Oriental Mindoro
Palawan
Puerto Princesa
Romblon Batangas TagalogVisayan Hilitribal 27,456 2,744,671 90pxBicol(Region V)Legazpi270pxAlbay
Camarines Norte
Camarines Sur
Catanduanes
Masbate
Naga
Sorsogon BicolanoMasbateño 17,632 5,420,411  Island group: Visayas (Central Philippines)90pxWestern Visayas(Region VI)Iloilo City270pxAklan
Antique
Bacolod
Capiz
Guimaras
Iloilo
Iloilo City
Negros Occidental AklanonCapiznonKaray-aHiligaynon 20,223 7,102,438 90pxCentral Visayas(Region VII)Cebu City270pxBohol
Cebu
Cebu City
Lapu-Lapu City
Mandaue
Negros Oriental
Siquijor CebuanoBoholanoNegrense 14,951 6,800,180 90pxEastern Visayas(Region VIII)Tacloban270pxBiliran
Eastern Samar
Leyte
Northern Samar
Ormoc
Samar
Southern Leyte
Tacloban WarayCebuano 21,432 4,101,322  Island group: Mindanao (Southern Philippines)90pxZamboanga(Region IX)Pagadian270pxIsabela CityA component city, part of the province of Basilan, but whose regional services are provided by the offices of Region IX.
Zamboanga City
Zamboanga del Norte
Zamboanga del Sur
Zamboanga Sibugay Mindanao CebuanoChavacano 14,811 3,407,353 90pxNorthern Mindanao(Region X)Cagayan de Oro270pxBukidnon
Cagayan de Oro
Camiguin
Iligan City
Lanao del Norte
Misamis Occidental
Misamis Oriental Mindanao CebuanoMindanao Hiligaynon 17,125 4,297,323 90pxDavao(Region XI)Davao City270pxDavao de Oro
Davao City
Davao del Norte
Davao del Sur
Davao Oriental
Davao Occidental Davaoeño CebuanoDavaoeñoMindanao Cebuano 20,244 4,468,563 90pxCotabato(Region XII)Koronadal Cotabato
Cotabato City
General Santos
Sarangani
South Cotabato
Sultan Kudarat Mindanao HiligaynonMindanao Cebuano 18,433 4,109,571 90pxCaraga(Region XIII)Butuan270pxAgusan del Norte
Agusan del Sur
Butuan
Dinagat Islands
Surigao del Norte
Surigao del Sur Mindanao CebuanoSurigaononKamayo 18,847 2,429,224 90pxBangsamoro (BARMM)Cotabato City270pxBasilan (excluding Isabela City)
Lanao del Sur
Maguindanao
Sulu
Tawi-Tawi MaguindanaononTausug 12,695 3,256,140 

References

Related pages
 Provinces of the Philippines

Other websites

National Statistical Coordination Board 
National Statistics Office