Philippines

=== Administrative divisions ===
{{Main|Administrative divisions of the Philippines}}
[[File:Ph regions and provinces.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Color-coded political map of the Philippines|The Philippines' regions and provinces]]

The Philippines is divided into 17 [[Regions of the Philippines|regions]], 82 [[Provinces of the Philippines|provinces]], 146 [[Cities of the Philippines|cities]], 1,488 [[Municipalities of the Philippines|municipalities]], and 42,036 [[barangay]]s.<ref>{{#invoke:cite web||title=Provincial Summary: Number of Provinces, Cities, Municipalities and Barangays, by Region as of September 30, 2016 |url=http://nap.psa.gov.ph/activestats/psgc/SUMWEBPROV-SEPT2016-CODED-HUC-FINAL.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170110151057/http://nap.psa.gov.ph/activestats/psgc/SUMWEBPROV-SEPT2016-CODED-HUC-FINAL.pdf |archive-date=January 10, 2017 |access-date=January 5, 2017 |publisher=[[Philippine Statistics Authority]]}}</ref> Regions other than [[Bangsamoro]] are divided for administrative convenience.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tusalem |first=Rollin F |date=April 9, 2019 |title=Imperial Manila: How institutions and political geography disadvantage Philippine provinces |journal=Asian Journal of Comparative Politics |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=8–9, 11–12 |doi=10.1177/2057891119841441 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing|SAGE Publications Ltd]]|s2cid=159099808}}</ref> [[Calabarzon]] was the region with the greatest population {{as of|2020|lc=y}}, and the [[Metro Manila|National Capital Region]] (NCR) was the most densely populated.<ref name="PSA-2020-Census-Highlights">{{cite report|last=Mapa |first=Dennis S. |date=July 23, 2021 |title=Highlights of the Population Density of the Philippines 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH) |url=https://psa.gov.ph/content/highlights-population-density-philippines-2020-census-population-and-housing-2020-cph |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726073127/https://psa.gov.ph/content/highlights-population-density-philippines-2020-census-population-and-housing-2020-cph |archive-date=July 26, 2021 |access-date=February 12, 2023 |publisher=[[Philippine Statistics Authority]]}}</ref>

The Philippines is a [[unitary state]], with the exception of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM),<ref>{{cite journal|last=de Villiers |first=Bertus |date=2015 |title=Special regional autonomy in a unitary system – preliminary observations on the case of the Bangsomoro homeland in the Philippines |journal=Verfassung und Recht in Übersee / Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America |publisher=[[Nomos Publishing House|Nomos-Verlagsgesellschaft]] |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=205–226 |doi=10.5771/0506-7286-2015-2-205 |issn=0506-7286 |jstor=26160114}}</ref> although there have been [[Federalism in the Philippines|steps towards decentralization]];<ref>{{cite journal|last=Buendia |first=Rizal G. |date=April 1989 |title=The Prospects of Federalism in the Philippines: A Challenge to Political Decentralization of the Unitary State |url=https://www.pssc.org.ph/wp-content/pssc-archives/Philippine%20Journal%20of%20Public%20Administration/1989/Num%202/06_The%20Prospects%20of%20Federalism%20in%20the%20Philippines.pdf |journal=Philippine Journal of Public Administration |publisher=[[University of the Philippines]] |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=121–122 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917050906/https://www.pssc.org.ph/wp-content/pssc-archives/Philippine%20Journal%20of%20Public%20Administration/1989/Num%202/06_The%20Prospects%20of%20Federalism%20in%20the%20Philippines.pdf |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |access-date=April 2, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Tigno |first=Jorge V. |date=2017 |title=Beg Your Pardon? The Philippines is Already Federalized in All but Name |url=https://cids.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/ppj-16-17-tigno-2017.pdf |journal=Philippine Journal of Public Policy: Interdisciplinary Development Perspectives |volume=16 and 17 |pages=1–14 |publisher=[[University of the Philippines|University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116032627/https://cids.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/ppj-16-17-tigno-2017.pdf |archive-date=January 16, 2021 |access-date=August 8, 2020}}</ref> a 1991 law [[devolution|devolved]] some powers to [[Local government in the Philippines|local governments]].<ref>{{cite report|last1=Atienza |first1=Maria Ela L. |url=https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/constitutional-performance-assessment-1987-philippine-constitution.pdf |title=Constitutional Performance Assessment of the 1987 Philippine Constitution: Summary of Findings |last2=Arugay |first2=Aries A. |last3=Dee |first3=Francis Joseph A. |last4=Encinas-Franco |first4=Jean |last5=Go |first5=Jan Robert R. |last6=Panao |first6=Rogelio Alicor L. |last7=Jimenez |first7=Alinia Jesam D. |date=2020 |publisher=[[International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance]]; [[University of the Philippines|University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies]] |location=Stockholm, Sweden and Quezon City, Philippines |isbn=978-91-7671-299-3 |doi=10.31752/idea.2020.2 |editor-last=Atienza |editor-first=Maria Ela L. |page=37 |access-date=December 1, 2020 |editor-last2=Cats-Baril |editor-first2=Amanda |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328053237/https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/constitutional-performance-assessment-1987-philippine-constitution.pdf |archive-date=March 28, 2021}}</ref>