THE PHILIPPINES

The Republic of the Philippines is a South-east Asian island nation in the Western Pacific. Comprising some 7,614 islands with 36,289km of coastline, it is the eighth-most populous country in Asia with a fastgrowing population that numbered almost 101 million in 2015. In addition, more than 10 million nationals live outside the country.

While officially a secular state, 80 percent of the population is Roman Catholic and there is a significant Muslim minority concentrated mostly in the southern island of Mindanao.