Language

Filipino is the national language. It is based on Tagalog, one of the eight major languages spoken here. In addition, people groups speak a total of over eighty minor languages and many more dialects. Many of these have not yet reduced to writing.

Population

In 1950, the population was 20,000,000 with less than 20% considered urban. Today, the population is 76,000,000, 48.5% of which is urban. More than 60% of this number is under twenty-five years of age. This makes the Philippines the ninth most populous nation in Asia and the thirteenth in the world. At its present rate of growth, the population will double in just twenty-nine years. Literacy remains extremely high, at 93.5%.