Manila Population

History reveals that the original inhabitants were the Tagalogs. But due to interaction with other cultures and migrations one finds that the Visayans, Bicolanos, llocanos, Maranaos, Chinese and Spaniards have settled here. One also finds the Americans, Arabs, Indonesians, Indians and Koreans adding to the Manila population who had come at different periods of history.

Manila has been a place where the people from different parts of the world have settled and different times of history. The Manila population is the manifestation of the cultural interaction that had taken place in history. The Spanish invaders conquered the city in 1571 and ruled till 1898. The popular Intramuros region is where one would find the best example of the

In the recent years (in the 1970's and 1980's) there have been several factors that have affected the population figures. The migrations from the village to the city and the resettlement pattern that brought about migrations from the densely populated areas to the sparsely populated regions. Another trend affecting the Manila population is the temporary migrations to other countries for work and this has been mare than half a million. The remittance sent by these migrants has helped garner foreign exchange.

About 12 percent of Philippines population is concentrated in Manila metropolitan area. During 1960's the rate of growth of Manila population was 5 percent whereas the national growth rate was 3 percent. But the trend slowed down in 1980's to 2.8 percent but the outlying areas continued the growth.

Manila population trend reveals that it has got the highest population density compared to any other city in the world as it has just 38.55 square km worth of area. The 1999 figures reveal that the Manila population was around 1,580,924. The rapid growth of population has led to problems like overcrowding, traffic congestion, pollution and housing problems.