List of Philippine provinces by population

This is a list of Philippine provinces sorted by population as of the 2020 census, which was conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The population of provinces in this list includes a population of highly urbanized cities, which are administratively independent of the province.
Population counts for the regions do not add up to the national total.

2000 Census

Showing provinces existing at the time of census. Figures do not add up to total as population in disputed areas are added up to the next higher subdivision.

Rank	Province	Population	% of Population	Notes
—	Philippines	76,498,735	100%
—	Metro Manila	9,932,560	%
1	Cebu	3,356,137	%	Includes Cebu City
2	Negros Occidental	2,565,723	%	Includes Bacolod
3	Pangasinan	2,434,086	%
4	Zamboanga del Sur	2,432,489	%	Includes Zamboanga City
5	Bulacan	2,234,088	%
6	Cavite	2,063,161	%
7	Laguna	1,965,872	%
8	Iloilo	1,925,002	%	Includes Iloilo City
9	Davao del Sur	1,905,917	%	Includes Davao City
10	Batangas	1,905,348	%
11	Pampanga	1,882,730	%	Includes Angeles City
12	Rizal	1,707,218	%
13	Quezon	1,679,030	%
14	Nueva Ecija	1,659,883	%
15	Leyte	1,592,336	%
16	Camarines Sur	1,551,549	%
17	Isabela	1,287,575	%
18	Bohol	1,137,268	%
19	Misamis Oriental	1,126,215	%	Includes Cagayan de Oro
20	Negros Oriental	1,126,061	%
21	South Cotabato	1,102,550	%	Includes General Santos
22	Albay	1,090,907	%
23	Tarlac	1,068,783	%
24	Bukidnon	1,060,265	%
25	Cagayan	993,580	%
26	Maguindanao	964,951	%	Includes Cotabato City
27	Cotabato	958,643	%
28	Zamboanga del Norte	823,130	%
29	Lanao del Sur	800,162	%
30	Lanao del Norte	758,123	%	Includes Iligan
31	Palawan	755,412	%
32	Davao del Norte	743,811	%
33	Masbate	707,668	%
34	Oriental Mindoro	681,818	%
35	La Union	657,945	%
36	Capiz	654,156	%
37	Sorsogon	650,535	%
38	Samar	641,124	%
39	Zambales	627,802	%	Includes Olongapo
40	Sulu	619,668	%
41	Ilocos Sur	594,206	%
42	Sultan Kudarat	586,505	%
43	Benguet	582,515	%	Includes Baguio
44	Compostela Valley	580,244	%
45	Agusan del Sur	559,294	%
46	Bataan	557,659	%
47	Agusan del Norte	552,849	%	Includes Butuan
48	Ilocos Norte	514,241	%
49	Surigao del Sur	501,808	%
50	Northern Samar	500,639	%
51	Misamis Occidental	486,723	%
52	Surigao del Norte	481,416	%
53	Antique	471,088	%
54	Camarines Norte	458,840	%
55	Aklan	451,314	%
56	Davao Oriental	446,191	%
57	Sarangani	410,622	%
58	Occidental Mindoro	380,250	%
59	Eastern Samar	375,822	%
60	Nueva Vizcaya	366,962	%
61	Southern Leyte	360,160	%
62	Basilan	332,828	%
63	Tawi-Tawi	322,317	%
64	Romblon	264,357	%
65	Marinduque	217,392	%
66	Catanduanes	215,356	%
67	Abra	209,491	%
68	Kalinga	174,023	%
69	Aurora	173,797	%
70	Ifugao	161,623	%
71	Quirino	148,575	%
72	Guimaras	141,450	%
73	Mountain Province	140,439	%
74	Biliran	140,274	%
75	Apayao	97,129	%
76	Siquijor	81,598	%
77	Camiguin	74,232	%
78	Batanes	16,467	%

1995 Census

Showing provinces existing at the time of census.

Rank	Province	Population	% of Population	Notes
—	Philippines	76,498,735	100%
—	Metro Manila	9,932,560	%
1	Cebu	3,356,137	%	Includes Cebu City
2	Negros Occidental	2,565,723	%	Includes Bacolod
3	Pangasinan	2,434,086	%
4	Zamboanga del Sur	2,432,489	%	Includes Zamboanga City
5	Bulacan	2,234,088	%
6	Cavite	2,063,161	%
7	Laguna	1,965,872	%
8	Iloilo	1,925,002	%	Includes Iloilo City
9	Davao del Sur	1,905,917	%	Includes Davao City
10	Batangas	1,905,348	%
11	Pampanga	1,882,730	%	Includes Angeles City
12	Rizal	1,707,218	%
13	Quezon	1,679,030	%
14	Nueva Ecija	1,659,883	%
15	Leyte	1,592,336	%
16	Camarines Sur	1,551,549	%
17	Isabela	1,287,575	%
18	Bohol	1,137,268	%
19	Misamis Oriental	1,126,215	%	Includes Cagayan de Oro
20	Negros Oriental	1,126,061	%
21	South Cotabato	1,102,550	%	Includes General Santos
22	Albay	1,090,907	%
23	Tarlac	1,068,783	%
24	Bukidnon	1,060,265	%
25	Cagayan	993,580	%
26	Maguindanao	964,951	%	Includes Cotabato City
27	Cotabato	958,643	%
28	Zamboanga del Norte	823,130	%
29	Lanao del Sur	800,162	%
30	Lanao del Norte	758,123	%	Includes Iligan
31	Palawan	755,412	%
32	Davao del Norte	743,811	%
33	Masbate	707,668	%
34	Oriental Mindoro	681,818	%
35	La Union	657,945	%
36	Capiz	654,156	%
37	Sorsogon	650,535	%
38	Samar	641,124	%
39	Zambales	627,802	%	Includes Olongapo
40	Sulu	619,668	%
41	Ilocos Sur	594,206	%
42	Sultan Kudarat	586,505	%
43	Benguet	582,515	%	Includes Baguio
44	Compostela Valley	580,244	%
45	Agusan del Sur	559,294	%
46	Bataan	557,659	%
47	Agusan del Norte	552,849	%	Includes Butuan
48	Ilocos Norte	514,241	%
49	Surigao del Sur	501,808	%
50	Northern Samar	500,639	%
51	Misamis Occidental	486,723	%
52	Surigao del Norte	481,416	%
53	Antique	471,088	%
54	Camarines Norte	458,840	%
55	Aklan	451,314	%
56	Davao Oriental	446,191	%
57	Sarangani	410,622	%
58	Occidental Mindoro	380,250	%
59	Eastern Samar	375,822	%
60	Nueva Vizcaya	366,962	%
61	Southern Leyte	360,160	%
62	Basilan	332,828	%
63	Tawi-Tawi	322,317	%
64	Romblon	264,357	%
65	Marinduque	217,392	%
66	Catanduanes	215,356	%
67	Abra	209,491	%
68	Kalinga	174,023	%
69	Aurora	173,797	%
70	Ifugao	161,623	%
71	Quirino	148,575	%
72	Guimaras	141,450	%
73	Mountain Province	140,439	%
74	Biliran	140,274	%
75	Apayao	97,129	%
76	Siquijor	81,598	%
77	Camiguin	74,232	%
78	Batanes	16,467	%

1975 Census

Showing provinces existing at the time of census.

Rank	Province	Population	% of Population	Notes
—	Philippines	42,070,660	100%
1	Rizal	3,754,477	%
2	Cebu	1,818,410	%
3	Negros Occidental	1,785,792	%
4	Pangasinan	1,520,085	%
—	Manila	1,479,116	%
5	Iloilo	1,313,049	%
6	Leyte	1,203,118	%
7	Quezon	1,115,962	%
8	Bulacan	1,050,134	%
9	Pampanga	1,042,164	%
10	Batangas	1,032,009	%
11	Camarines Sur	1,023,819	%
12	Zamboanga del Sur	1,002,852	%
13	Nueva Ecija	947,995	%
14	Davao del Sur	936,263	%
15	Laguna	803,750	%
16	Bohol	759,370	%
17	Negros Oriental	740,412	%
18	Isabela	730,386	%
19	Albay	728,827	%
20	Cagayan	644,075	%
21	Tarlac	640,899	%
22	Cavite	628,321	%
23	South Cotabato	586,867	%
24	Davao del Norte	569,697	%
25	Misamis Oriental	560,490	%
26	Bukidnon	522,818	%
27	Masbate	533,387	%
28	Lanao del Sur	499,882	%
29	Samar	478,378	%
30	Maguindanao	478,119	%
31	Cotabato	472,302	%
32	Zamboanga del Norte	460,515	%
33	Sorsogon	446,502	%
34	Capiz	445,716	%
35	Zambales	416,280	%
36	La Union	414,635	%
37	Ilocos Sur	399,776	%
38	Oriental Mindoro	388,744	%
39	Lanao del Norte	381,234	%
40	Ilocos Norte	371,724	%
41	Misamis Occidental	366,319	%
42	Northern Samar	354,665	%
43	Sultan Kudarat	328,912	%
44	Antique	308,484	%
45	Surigao del Sur	302,305	%
46	Benguet	302,065	%
47	Agusan del Norte	300,735	%
48	Palawan	300,065	%
49	Davao Oriental	299,426	%
50	Surigao del Norte	298,080	%
51	Aklan	293,349	%
52	Camarines Norte	288,406	%
53	Eastern Samar	287,149	%
54	Southern Leyte	276,418	%
55	Bataan	263,269	%
56	Sulu	240,001	%
57	Agusan del Sur	213,216	%
58	Nueva Vizcaya	213,151	%
59	Occidental Mindoro	185,787	%
60	Romblon	182,209	%
61	Catanduanes	172,780	%
62	Basilan	171,027	%
63	Kalinga-Apayao	163,225	%
64	Marinduque	162,804	%
65	Abra	147,010	%
66	Tawi-Tawi	143,487	%
67	Ifugao	104,707	%
68	Mountain Province	94,096	%
69	Siquijor	69,077	%
70	Quirino	65,763	%
71	Camiguin	52,547	%
72	Batanes	11,870	%

1903 Census

Showing provinces existing at the time of census.

Rank	Province	Population	Notes
—	Philippines	7,635,426
1	Cebu	653,727
2	Pangasinan	443,521
3	Iloilo	410,315
4	Moro Province	402,014	Includes districts of Cotabato ; Davao ; Lanao ; Sulu ; Zamboanga
5	Leyte	388,922
6	Negros Occidental	308,272
7	Bohol	269,223
8	Samar	266,237
9	Batangas	257,715
10	Albay	240,326
11	Ambos Camarines	239,405
12	Capiz	230,721
13	Pampanga	223,754
14	Bulacan	223,742
—	Manila	219,928
15	Tayabas	204,739
16	Negros Oriental	201,494
17	Ilocos Sur	187,411
18	Ilocos Norte	178,995
19	Cagayan	156,239	Includes sub-province of Apayao
20	Misamis	153,707
21	Rizal	150,923
22	La Laguna	148,606
23	La Union	137,839
24	Tarlac	135,107
25	Cavite	134,779
26	Nueva Ecija	134,147
27	Antique	134,166
28	Sorsogon	120,495
29	Surigao	115,112
30	Isabela	76,431
31	Lepanto-Bontoc	72,750	Includes sub-provinces of Amburayan, Kalinga
32	Nueva Vizcaya	62,541
33	Zambales	58,930
34	Abra	51,860
35	Bataan	46,787
36	Masbate	43,675
37	Mindoro	39,582
38	Paragua	35,696
39	Benguet	21,280