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.

Regions of the Philippines
Administrative map of the Philippines
Category	Region
Location	Philippines
Number	18 (as of 2024)
Possible status	Administrative region Autonomous region
Populations	Smallest: 1,791,121 (CAR) Largest: 16,139,770 (Calabarzon)
Areas	Smallest: 636.00 km2 (245.56 sq mi) (NCR) Largest: 29,620.90 km2 (11,436.69 sq mi) (Mimaropa)
Government	Regional development council Metropolitan development authority Autonomous regional government
Subdivisions	Provinces Independent cities

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.^[1]

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)[1]	Density (per km2)
	National Capital Region (NCR)	Manila	-	Filipino	636	11,855,975	18641.5
	Cordillera (CAR)	Baguio	Abra Apayao Baguio[2] Benguet Ifugao Kalinga Mountain Province	Ilocano dialects	18,294	1,616,867	88.4
	Ilocos (Region I)	San Fernando, La Union	Ilocos Norte Ilocos Sur La Union Pangasinan	Ilocano Pangasinense	12,840	4,748,372	369.8
	Cagayan Valley (Region II)	Tuguegarao	Batanes Cagayan Isabela Nueva Vizcaya Quirino Santiago[3]	Ilocano dialects	26,838	3,229,163	120.3
	Central Luzon (Region III)	San Fernando, Pampanga	Angeles City[2] Aurora Bataan Bulacan Nueva Ecija Olongapo[2] Pampanga Tarlac Zambales	Bulacan Tagalog Kapampangan	21,470	10,137,737	472.2
	CALABARZON (Region IV-A)	Calamba City	Batangas Cavite Laguna Lucena City[2] Quezon Rizal	Tagalog Tanay–Paete Batangeño Tayabasin	16,229	12,609,803	777
	MIMAROPA (Region IV-B)	Calapan	Marinduque Occidental Mindoro Oriental Mindoro Palawan Puerto Princesa[2] Romblon	Batangas Tagalog Visayan Hilitribal	27,456	2,744,671	100
	Bicol (Region V)	Legazpi	Albay Camarines Norte Camarines Sur Catanduanes Masbate Naga[3] Sorsogon	Bicolano Masbateño	17,632	5,420,411	307.4
Island group: Visayas (Central Philippines)
	Western Visayas (Region VI)	Iloilo City	Aklan Antique Bacolod[2] Capiz Guimaras Iloilo Iloilo City[2] Negros Occidental	Aklanon Capiznon Karay-a Hiligaynon	20,223	7,102,438	351.2
	Central Visayas (Region VII)	Cebu City	Bohol Cebu Cebu City[2][4] Lapu-Lapu City[2] Mandaue[2] Negros Oriental Siquijor	Cebuano Boholano Negrense	14,951	6,800,180	454.8
	Eastern Visayas (Region VIII)	Tacloban	Biliran Eastern Samar Leyte Northern Samar Ormoc[3] Samar Southern Leyte Tacloban[2]	Waray Cebuano	21,432	4,101,322	191.4
Island group: Mindanao (Southern Philippines)
	Zamboanga (Region IX)	Pagadian	Isabela City[5] Zamboanga City[2] Zamboanga del Norte Zamboanga del Sur Zamboanga Sibugay	Mindanao Cebuano Chavacano	14,811	3,407,353	230.1
	Northern Mindanao (Region X)	Cagayan de Oro	Bukidnon Cagayan de Oro[2] Camiguin Iligan City[2] Lanao del Norte Misamis Occidental Misamis Oriental	Mindanao Cebuano Mindanao Hiligaynon	17,125	4,297,323	250.9
	Davao (Region XI)	Davao City	Davao de Oro Davao City[2] Davao del Norte Davao del Sur Davao Oriental Davao Occidental	Davaoeño Cebuano Davaoeño Mindanao Cebuano	20,244	4,468,563	220.7
	Cotabato (Region XII)	Koronadal	Cotabato Cotabato City[3] General Santos[2] Sarangani South Cotabato Sultan Kudarat	Mindanao Hiligaynon Mindanao Cebuano	18,433	4,109,571	222.9
	Caraga (Region XIII)	Butuan	Agusan del Norte Agusan del Sur Butuan[2] Dinagat Islands Surigao del Norte Surigao del Sur	Mindanao Cebuano Surigaonon Kamayo	18,847	2,429,224	128.9
	Bangsamoro (BARMM)	Cotabato City	Basilan (excluding Isabela City) Lanao del Sur Maguindanao Sulu Tawi-Tawi	Maguindanaonon Tausug	12,695	3,256,140	256.5