title: Meta Platforms

text: Following a period of intense scrutiny and damaging whistleblower leaks, news started to emerge on October 21, 2021, about Facebook's plan to rebrand the company and to change its name. In the Q3 2021 Earnings Call, on October 25, Mark Zuckerberg discussed the ongoing criticism of the company's social services and the way it operates, and pointed to the pivoting efforts to building the metaverse – without mentioning the rebranding and the name change. The metaverse vision and the name change from Facebook, Inc. to Meta Platforms was introduced at Facebook Connect on October 28, 2021. Based on Facebook's PR campaign, the name change reflects the company's shifting long term focus of building the metaverse, a digital extension of the physical world by social media, virtual reality and augmented reality features.


title: Meta Platforms

text: "Meta" had been registered as a trademark in the United States in 2018 (after an initial filing in 2015) for marketing, advertising, and computer services, by a Canadian company that provided big data analysis of scientific literature. This company was acquired in 2017 by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a foundation established by Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, and became one of their projects. Following the rebranding announcement, CZI announced that it had already decided to deprioritize the earlier Meta project, that it would be transferring its rights to the name to Meta Platforms, and that the project would end in 2022.


title: Meta Platforms

text: Soon after the rebranding, in early February 2022, Meta reported a greater-than-expected decline in profits in the fourth quarter of 2021. It reported no growth in monthly users, and indicated it expected revenue growth to stall. The company also expected measures taken by Apple, Inc. to protect user privacy to cost it some $10 billion in advertisement revenue, an amount equal to roughly 8% of its revenue for 2021. In meeting with Meta staff the day after earnings were reported, Zuckerberg blamed competition for user attention, particularly from video-based apps such as TikTok.


title: Meta Platforms

text: The 27% reduction in the company's share price which occurred in reaction to the news eliminated some $230 billion of value from Meta's market capitalization. Bloomberg referred to the decline as "[...] an epic rout that, in its sheer scale, is unlike anything Wall Street or Silicon Valley has ever seen". Zuckerberg's net worth fell by as much as $31 billion. Zuckerberg controls 13% of Meta, and the holding makes up the bulk of his wealth.


title: Meta Platforms

text: According to published reports by Bloomberg News on March 30, 2022, Meta turned over data such as phone numbers, physical addresses, and IP addresses to hackers posing as law enforcement officials using forged documents. The law enforcement requests sometimes included forged signatures of real or fictional officials. When asked about the allegations, a Meta representative said, "We review every data request for legal sufficiency and use advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuse."


title: Meta Platforms

text: In June 2022, Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of 14 years, announced she would step down from the role in the fall of the same year. Zuckerberg stated that Javier Olivan would replace Sandberg, though in a "more traditional" role.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In July 2022, Meta saw its first year-on-year revenue decline when its total revenue slipped by 1% to $28.8bn. Many analysts and journalists accredited the loss to its advertising business, which has been limited by Apple's app tracking transparency feature and the number of people who have opted not to be tracked by Meta apps. Zuckerberg also accredited the decline to increasing competition from TikTok. On October 27, 2022, Meta's market value dropped to $268 billion, a loss of around $700 billion compared to last year, and its shares fell by 24%. It lost its spot among the top 20 US companies by market cap, despite reaching the top 5 in the previous year.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In November 2022, Meta laid off 11,000 employees, 13% of its workforce. Zuckerberg said the decision to aggressively increase Meta's investments was a mistake, as he had wrongly predicted that the surge in e-commerce would last beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. He also attributed the decline to increased competition, a global economic downturn and "ads signal loss". The "Wall Street Journal" characterized the layoffs as part of a general downturn in the tech industry, alongside layoffs by companies including Snap, Twitter and Lyft.


title: Meta Platforms

text: Throughout its existence, Facebook, Inc./Meta has acquired multiple companies (often identified as talent acquisitions).


title: Meta Platforms

text: One of its first major acquisitions was in April 2012, when it acquired Instagram for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In February 2014, Facebook, Inc. announced it would buy mobile messaging company WhatsApp for US$19 billion in cash and stock. Later that year, Facebook bought Oculus VR for $2.3 billion in stock and cash, which released its first consumer virtual reality headset in 2016.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In late November 2019, Facebook, Inc. announced the acquisition of the game developer Beat Games, responsible for developing one of that year's most popular VR games, "Beat Saber".


title: Meta Platforms

text: In April 2020, Facebook, Inc. announced a $5.7-billion deal with the Indian multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries to purchase approximately 10 percent of Jio Platforms, Reliance's digital media and services entity.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In May 2020, Facebook, Inc. announced it had acquired Giphy for a reported cash price of $400 million. It will be integrated with the Instagram team. However, in August 2021, UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that Facebook, Inc. might have to sell Giphy, after an investigation found that the deal between the two companies would harm competition in display advertising market. Facebook, Inc. was fined $70 million by CMA for deliberately failing to report all information regarding the acquisition and the ongoing antitrust investigation. In October 2022, the CMA ruled for a second time that Meta be required to divest Giphy, stating that Meta already controls half of the advertising in the UK. Meta agreed to the sale, though it stated that it disagrees with the decision itself.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In November 2020, Facebook, Inc. announced that it planned to purchase the customer-service platform and chatbot specialist startup Kustomer to promote companies to use their platform for business. It has been reported that Kustomer valued at slightly over $1 billion. The deal was closed in February 2022 after regulatory approval.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In 2020, Facebook, Inc. spent on lobbying, hiring 79 lobbyists. By 2019, it had spent on lobbying and had a team of 71 lobbyists, up from and 51 lobbyists in 2018. Facebook was the largest spender of lobbying money among the 5 Big Tech companies in 2020.


title: Meta Platforms

text: Numerous lawsuits have been filed against the company, both when it was known as Facebook, Inc., and as Meta Platforms.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In March 2020, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) sued Facebook, for significant and persistent infringements of the rule on privacy involving the Cambridge Analytica fiasco. Every violation of the Privacy Act is subject to a theoretical cumulative liability of $1.7 million. The OAIC estimated that a total of 311,127 Australians had been exposed.


title: Meta Platforms

text: On December 8, 2020, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 46 states (excluding Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and South Dakota), the District of Columbia and the territory of Guam, launched "Federal Trade Commission v. Facebook" as an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook. The lawsuit concerns Facebook's acquisition of two competitors—Instagram and WhatsApp—and the ensuing monopolistic situation. FTC alleges that Facebook holds monopolistic power in the US social networking market and seeks to force the company to divest from Instagram and WhatsApp to break up the conglomerate. William Kovacic, a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, argued the case will be difficult to win as it would require the government to create a counterfactual argument of an internet where the Facebook-WhatsApp-Instagram entity did not exist, and prove that harmed competition or consumers.


title: Meta Platforms

text: On December 24, 2021, a court in Russia fined Meta for $27 million after the company declined to remove unspecified banned content. The fine was reportedly tied to the company's annual revenue in the country.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In May 2022, a lawsuit was filed in Kenya against Meta and its local outsourcing company Sama. Allegedly, Meta has poor working conditions in Kenya for workers moderating Facebook posts. The lawsuit seeks financial compensation and an order that outsourced moderators be given the same health benefits and pay scale as Meta employees.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In June 2022, 8 lawsuits were filed across the US over the allege that excessive exposure to platforms including Facebook and Instagram has let to attempted or actual suicides, eating disorders and sleeplessness, among other issues. The litigation follows a former Facebook employee's testimony in Congress that the company refused to take responsibility. The company noted that tools have been developed for parents to keep track of their children's activity on Instagram and set time limits in addition to Meta's "Take a break" reminders. In addition, the company is providing resources specific to eating disorders as well as developing AI to ensure that children under the age of 13 can't sign up for Facebook or Instagram.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In June 2022, Meta settled a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2019, alleged that the company enabled housing discrimination through targeted advertising, as it allowed home owners and landlords to run housing ads excluding people based on sex, race, religion, and other characteristics. The US Department of Justice stated that this was in violation of the Fair Housing Act. Meta was handed a penalty of $115,054 and given until December 31, 2022, to shadow the algorithm tool.


title: Meta Platforms

text: Early Facebook investor and former Zuckerberg mentor Roger McNamee described Facebook as having "the most centralized decision-making structure I have ever encountered in a large company." Nathan Schneider, a professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder argued for transforming Facebook into a platform cooperative owned and governed by the users.


title: Meta Platforms

text: Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has stated that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has too much power, that the company is now a monopoly, and that, as a result, it should be split into multiple smaller companies. In an op-ed in "The New York Times", Hughes said he was concerned that Zuckerberg had surrounded himself with a team that did not challenge him, and that it is the U.S. government's job to hold him accountable and curb his "unchecked power". He also said that "Mark's power is unprecedented and un-American." Several U.S. politicians agreed with Hughes. European Union Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager stated that splitting Facebook should be done only as "a remedy of the very last resort", and that it would not solve Facebook's underlying problems.


title: Meta Platforms

text: Facebook ranked No. 34 in the 2020 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue, with almost $86 billion in revenue. Most comes from advertising. One analysis of 2017 data determined that the company earned per user from advertising.


title: Meta Platforms

text: According to "New York", since its rebranding, Meta has reportedly lost $500 billion as a result of new privacy measures put in place by companies such as Apple and Google which prevents Meta from gathering users' data.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In February 2015, Facebook announced it had reached two million active advertisers, with most of the gain coming from small businesses. An active advertiser was defined as an entity that had advertised on the Facebook platform in the last 28 days. In March 2016, Facebook announced it had reached three million active advertisers with more than 70% from outside the United States. Prices for advertising follow a variable pricing model based on auctioning ad placements, and potential engagement levels of the advertisement itself. Similar to other online advertising platforms like Google and Twitter, targeting of advertisements is one of the chief merits of digital advertising compared to traditional media. Marketing on Meta is employed through two methods based on the viewing habits, likes and shares, and purchasing data of the audience, namely targeted audiences and "look alike" audiences.


title: Meta Platforms

text: The US IRS challenged the valuation Facebook used when it transferred IP from the US to Facebook Ireland (now Meta Platforms Ireland) in 2010 (which Facebook Ireland then revalued higher before charging out), as it was building its double Irish tax structure. The case is ongoing and Meta faces a potential fine of $3–5bn.


title: Meta Platforms

text: The US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 changed Facebook's global tax calculations. Meta Platforms Ireland is subject to the US GILTI tax of 10.5% on global intangible profits (i.e. Irish profits). On the basis that Meta Platforms Ireland Limited is paying some tax, the effective minimum US tax for Facebook Ireland will be circa 11%. In contrast, Meta Platforms Inc. would incur a special IP tax rate of 13.125% (the FDII rate) if its Irish business relocated to the US. Tax relief in the US (21% vs. Irish at the GILTI rate) and accelerated capital expensing, would make this effective US rate around 12%.


title: Meta Platforms

text: The insignificance of the US/Irish tax difference was demonstrated when Facebook moved 1.5bn non-EU accounts to the US to limit exposure to GDPR.


title: Meta Platforms

text: Users outside of the US and Canada contract with Meta's Irish subsidiary, Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (formerly "Facebook Ireland Limited"), allowing Meta to avoid US taxes for all users in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and South America. Meta is making use of the Double Irish arrangement which allows it to pay 2–3% corporation tax on all international revenue. In 2010, Facebook opened its fourth office, in Hyderabad, India, which houses online advertising and developer support teams and provides support to users and advertisers. In India, Meta is registered as Facebook India Online Services Pvt Ltd. It also has support centers in Chittagong; Dublin; California; Ireland; and Austin, Texas.


title: Meta Platforms

text: Facebook opened its London headquarters in 2017 in Fitzrovia in central London. Facebook opened an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2018. The offices were initially home to the "Connectivity Lab", a group focused on bringing Internet access to those who do not have access to the Internet. In April 2019, Facebook opened its Taiwan headquarters in Taipei.


title: Meta Platforms

text: As of 2019, Facebook operated 16 data centers. It committed to purchase 100% renewable energy and to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 75% by 2020. Its data center technologies include Fabric Aggregator, a distributed network system that accommodates larger regions and varied traffic patterns.


title: Meta Platforms

text: US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded in a tweet to Zuckerberg's announcement about Meta, saying: "Meta as in 'we are a cancer to democracy metastasizing into a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting authoritarian regimes and destroying civil society ... for profit!


title: Meta Platforms

text: Ex-Facebook employee Frances Haugen and whistleblower behind the Facebook Papers responded to the rebranding efforts by expressing doubts about the company's ability to improve while led by Mark Zuckerberg, and urged the CEO to resign.


title: Meta Platforms

text: In November 2021, a video published by Inspired by Iceland went viral, in which a Zuckerberg look-alike promoted the Icelandverse, a place of "enhanced actual reality without silly looking headsets".


title: Meta Platforms

text: In a December 2021 interview, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he could not see a compelling use-case for the VR-driven metaverse, adding: "I don't see someone strapping a frigging screen to their face all day."


title: Meta Platforms

text: In January 2022, Louise Eccles of "The Sunday Times" logged into the metaverse with the intention of making a video guide. She wrote:


title: Meta Platforms

text: Eccles described being sexually harassed by another user, as well as "accents from all over the world, American, Indian, English, Australian, using racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic language". She also encountered users as young as 7 years old on the platform, despite Oculus headsets being intended for users over 13.


title: Tom Holland

text: Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the "Forbes" 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications have called him one of the most popular actors of his generation.


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland's career began at age nine when he enrolled in a dancing class, where a choreographer noticed him and arranged for him to audition for a role in "Billy Elliot the Musical" at London's Victoria Palace Theatre. After two years of training, he secured a supporting part in 2008 and was upgraded to the title role that year, which he played until 2010. Holland made his film debut in the disaster drama "The Impossible" (2012) as a teenage tourist trapped in a tsunami, for which he received a London Film Critics Circle Award for Young British Performer of the Year. After this, Holland decided to pursue acting as a full-time career, appearing in "How I Live Now" (2013) and playing historical figures in the film "In the Heart of the Sea" (2015) and the miniseries "Wolf Hall" (2015).


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland achieved international recognition playing Spider-Man/Peter Parker in six Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superhero films, beginning with "" (2016). The following year, Holland received the BAFTA Rising Star Award and later became the youngest actor to play a title role in an MCU film in "". The sequels "" (2019) and "" (2021) each grossed more than $1billion worldwide, and the latter became the highest-grossing film of the year. During this period, Holland gained recognition for playing darker roles in the crime dramas "The Devil All the Time" (2020) and "Cherry" (2021). Holland has additionally directed the short film "Tweet" (2015) and voiced roles in computer-animated features, including "Onward" (2020).


title: Tom Holland

text: Thomas Stanley Holland was born on 1 June 1996 in Kingston upon Thames in south west London, to photographer Nicola ("née" Frost) and Dominic Holland, a comedian and author. He has three younger brothers. His paternal grandmother was from Tipperary, Ireland. Holland lives in Kingston upon Thames, near the house of his parents and younger brothers. As his parents have creative professions, he is often inspired by them; he considers his father a role model who has unofficially worked as his manager due to his experience in the industry.


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland was educated at Donhead, an all-male Catholic preparatory school in Wimbledon in south west London. When he was seven, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. His parents sent him and his brothers (to avoid making them feel neglected) to a private school so he could get the necessary attention. Although Holland liked the new school, this started to drain his family's finances. Holland attended Wimbledon College, a voluntary aided Jesuit comprehensive school, followed by the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon.


title: Tom Holland

text: Growing up, Holland considered several career choices. As a child, he was a fan of Janet Jackson's songs, and would often dance to them. His mother, impressed with this, signed him up for a dancing class, which was advertised in the private school that Holland was visiting at the time. In his teens, Holland briefly attended carpentry school in Cardiff, Wales. At one point, he considered becoming a primary school teacher, as he enjoys being around children.


title: Tom Holland

text: At age nine, Holland began dancing at a hip hop class at Nifty Feet Dance School in Wimbledon, where he performed with his school group at the 2006 Richmond Dance Festival. There, he was spotted by choreographer Lynne Page, an associate to Peter Darling, choreographer of "Billy Elliot the Musical". Page arranged an audition for Holland, where the musical's director Stephen Daldry thought that he "had great potential and was a very natural actor". After two years of training in ballet, tap dancing and acrobatics, Holland won the role of Michael Caffrey, the protagonist's best friend, and made his debut performance at the West End's Victoria Palace Theatre in June 2008. During his time performing in the musical, Holland learned gymnastics. Holland says when his peers at school found out about his dancing activities, they started bullying him.


title: Tom Holland

text: Later in 2008, Holland and co-star Tanner Pflueger were promoted to the lead role in the musical. On his first day playing Elliot, Holland developed tonsillitis, but performed on stage anyway to positive reviews, but went to the doctor the next day. Following his stage success, Holland hoped to be popular in school and that his schoolmates would stop bullying him. After being in a professional environment, however, he matured earlier than his peers and struggled to fit in. As a result, his General Certificate of Secondary Education grades suffered. After his work on "Billy Elliot the Musical" finished in 2010, Holland voiced a role in the British dub of the Japanese animated fantasy film "Arrietty" (2011), and sent an audition tape to J.A. Bayona for a part in "The Impossible" (2012). Bayona then arranged a meeting, and had Holland write a letter to his mother and recite it as an audition. Impressed with his emotional delivery, Bayona cast Holland in the film.


title: Tom Holland

text: In "The Impossible", Holland played a teenager trapped with his family in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Transitioning from stage to screen was initially hard for Holland due to the shift from live audience to camera. He and co-star Naomi Watts filmed scenes in a 35,000-gallon water tank, which were physically and psychologically taxing for them. Working with Watts made Holland realise that he wanted to pursue an acting career permanently. "The Impossible" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September to critical and commercial success, earning $180.3million against a budget of $45million. Holland received critical praise for his performance. A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" found Holland to be "a terrific young actor", praising his character's transition from a self-involved to a responsible adolescent. He won several awards, including the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance and London Film Critics Circle Award for Young British Performer of the Year. Holland featured in the drama film "How I Live Now" (2013), lent his voice in a supporting role for the drama film "Locke" (2013), and had a cameo in "Billy Elliot the Musical Live" (2014).


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland appeared in four episodes of BBC Two's historical miniseries "Wolf Hall" (2015), as Gregory Cromwell, son of the protagonist Thomas Cromwell played by Mark Rylance. He directed "Tweet" (2015), a 3-minute short film about a young man building a birdhouse with his grandfather; Holland later expressed an interest in directing feature films in his 40s. Also in 2015, Holland co-starred as the teenage sailor Thomas Nickerson in Ron Howard's historical adventure-drama "In the Heart of the Sea". The film is based on the namesake 2000 non-fiction book about the sinking of the American whaling ship "Essex" in 1820. In preparation, he and co-stars, including Chris Hemsworth, lost significant weight, consuming 500–1,000 calories a day. Holland performed most of his stunts in the film. "In the Heart of the Sea" received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $93 million against a $100 million budget. Brian Truitt of the "USA Today" wrote that Holland "does a good job".


title: Tom Holland

text: In June 2015, Holland signed a six-picture deal with Marvel Studios to play a teenage Peter Parker / Spider-Man. Growing up, Holland was a fan of Spider-Man; he owned 30 costumes and bed sheet covers of the character. He auditioned against 1,500teenagers worldwide, including English actors Charlie Rowe and Asa Butterfield. While producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal were impressed with his performances in "The Impossible", "Wolf Hall", and "In the Heart of the Sea", directors the Russo brothers cited Holland's dancing and gymnastics background as the reasons to cast him. Stan Lee, Spider-Man's creator, said Holland was the "exact age and height" when he envisioned the character. As part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), he first appeared as Spider-Man in "" (2016). The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide against a budget of $250million to become the highest-grossing film of 2016. In a review for "The Guardian", Peter Bradshaw praised Holland and co-star Paul Rudd (who played Ant-Man) as "seductively high-spirited and hilarious", and Richard Roeper of "Chicago Sun-Times" wrote that he made "a strong first impression" as Spider-Man.


title: Tom Holland

text: In 2016, Holland co-starred with Joel Kinnaman and Percy Hynes White in the psychological thriller "Edge of Winter". It was the first film he did without his parents' knowledge. Frank Scheck of "The Hollywood Reporter" found Holland and White "excellent", describing their terrified reaction as "more emotionally wrenching than the tired thriller genre conventions to which the film ultimately succumbs". At the 70th British Academy Film Awards in 2017, Holland won the Rising Star Award. Holland's first work that year was alongside Charlie Hunnam in James Gray's drama "The Lost City of Z", which was released to positive reviews. On his last day of filming, he broke his nose after a failed backflip attempt. Holland played the son of Percy Fawcett (Hunnam), an explorer who makes several attempts to find a supposed lost ancient city in the Amazon rainforest. Neil Soans of "The Times of India" praised Holland for making the film emotional towards the end and Rex Reed of "The New York Observer" found him "remarkably strong and self-assured". Later in 2017, Holland played Samuel Insull in Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's "The Current War", which received negative reviews and was a box-office failure. Clarisse Loughre of "The Independent" found Holland's role insubstantial.


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland's second film in 2017 was his solo feature as the title character in "". As a result, Holland earned an entry in "Guinness Book of World Records" as the youngest actor to play a title role in the MCU. Though Holland took some inspiration from previous Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, he wanted to add some newness in his reinterpretation of the character. "Homecoming" focused on Parker, as he tries to balance being a high-school student and a superhero. To prepare, Holland attended The Bronx High School of Science in the Bronx for a few days, although other students did not believe he was cast as Spider-Man. Holland felt this situation reflected the film's story, in which other characters are unaware that Parker is Spider-Man. "Homecoming" and Holland's performance received positive reviews. Peter Travers called it "a star performance given by a born actor". Made on a budget of $175million, the film grossed over $800 million worldwide. Holland's final role in 2017 was in the Irish film "Pilgrimage", which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Outside film that year, Holland appeared with Zendaya on Paramount Network's "Lip Sync Battle", during which he performed a dance number to Rihanna's "Umbrella" in drag. His parents founded The Brothers Trust, a charitable organisation, which aims to use his popularity to raise funds for humanitarian causes.


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland reprised his role as Spider-Man in "" (2018) and its follow-up "" (2019), which were . The pictures each earned more than $2billion, and "Endgame" briefly became the highest-grossing film of all time. Holland followed with the sequel "" (2019), which widely received positive reviews and became the first Spider-Man film to earn $1billion, finishing as the fourth-highest grosser of 2019. Ben Travis of "Empire" magazine found Holland "a note-perfect Spider-Man — still funnier and more believably teenage" than Maguire and Garfield who previously portrayed the character. Travis wrote, "Holland never loses the ebullient spark that makes him one of the MCU's most endearing figures." Holland received a third consecutive Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for "Far From Home", having previously won for "Civil War" and "Homecoming". He voiced roles in the Blue Sky Studios animation "Spies in Disguise" (2019), the live-action film "Dolittle" (2020), and the Pixar animated film "Onward" (2020). The last two were with his MCU co-stars Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Pratt, respectively. Made on lucrative budgets, all three films underperformed at the box-office.


title: Tom Holland

text: Alongside "Avengers" co-star Sebastian Stan, Holland starred in Antonio Campos's "The Devil All the Time" (2020), a Netflix psychological thriller set after World War II. Holland said he initially worried that he lacked the depth to play a young orphaned man who goes on a killing spree, and was scared and nervous on his first day on set. Encouraged by Campos, he ultimately enjoyed playing the part, although it took a temporary toll on his mental health. Campos praised Holland's effort to learn Southern American English for the role, described his acting process as "methodical", "thoughtful and sensitive", and called him a kind person. Critics from IndieWire and Roger Ebert's website opined that despite the film's failed script, Holland gave a convincing performance and showed his range as an actor. By November 2020, the film was the 22nd-most watched straight-to-streaming title of the year, according to a "Variety" report.


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland starred in three films that were released in 2021. His first, the crime drama "Cherry," is based on the namesake novel by American author Nico Walker, and reunited him with "Avengers" directors Russo brothers. He played a college student with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after enlisting in the army, and robs banks to finance his drug addiction. In preparation for the role, Holland shaved his head and interviewed military veterans undergoing treatments for substance abuse and PTSD. He also lost of weight, then regained it after filming. The film was released in cinemas in February and digitally on Apple TV+ in March. Consensus among critics was that the film enabled Holland to broaden his horizons as an actor, but it had a formulaic story. This was echoed by Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" who further noted that Holland proved his skills as an actor and demonstrated a range of indulgent looks and moods. Holland next played alongside Daisy Ridley as a young man living on a planet called New World in "Chaos Walking", an adaptation of Patrick Ness's best-selling science fiction series of the same name. The film was delayed due to several reshoots in early 2019, which added $15million to its budget, bringing its cost to $100million. "Chaos Walking" failed to recoup its budget and received poor reviews. David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" found the chemistry between Holland and Ridley lackluster and Christian Holub of "Entertainment Weekly" noted his failed attempt to break away from roles similar to Spider-Man.


title: Tom Holland

text: In November 2021, Holland voiced Percy Pig in a series of advertisements for Marks & Spencer's Christmas food specials. The following month, Holland reprised his role as Peter Parker in the sequel "". After taking on mature roles in films like "Cherry", Holland noted that he found it strange adjusting back to playing Parker, chiefly due to raising his voice pitch and returning to the mindset of a "naïve, charming teenager". He described "No Way Home" as the "most ambitious standalone superhero movie ever made". Despite its release during the COVID-19 pandemic, "No Way Home" quickly emerged as the highest-grossing film of 2021 and the sixth highest-grossing film of all time. It also became the first film since 2019's "" to earn more than $1billion at the box-office. "No Way Home" became the highest-rated "Spider-Man" film on the online database IMDb and the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Wendy Ide of "The Guardian" wrote that the film "delivers an overflowing, funnel-web cornucopia of treats for Spider-fans" and attributed Parker's continuing appeal to "his endearing, puppyish enthusiasm". "The Times" Kevin Maher opined that Holland "own[s] every inch of the role" and "casts his web and captures your heart".


title: Tom Holland

text: Discussing his future as Spider-Man after "No Way Home", Holland told "GQ" in 2021 that he was doubtful about reprising the role, especially after he turns 30 in 2026. He expressed a desire to see a live-action "Spider-Man" film with Miles Morales as the protagonist, whereas Amy Pascal spoke of wanting Holland to continue playing the role. Holland began the following year with an investment in Dogpound gyms, and a starring role as a young Nathan Drake, a charismatic fortune hunter, in the film adaptation of Naughty Dog's "Uncharted" video game series. In preparation for scenes where his character is bartending, Holland worked shifts at the Chiltern Firehouse, a pub in London. Though the filming was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Holland continued to eat and train for the role. "Uncharted" polarised critics but Rebecca Rubin of "Variety" wrote that Holland's star-power likely contributed to its box-office success. In a mixed review for his performance, Brian Tallerico of Roger Ebert's website labelled him miscast, writing that "Holland has the agility but quite simply lacks the weight and world-weariness needed" for the role.


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland is set to star in the Apple TV+ anthology series "The Crowded Room", where he will also be an executive-producer. Since 2017, he has also been attached to play the role of Pino Lella in "Beneath a Scarlet Sky", a spy thriller series set during World War II based on the 2017 fact-based novel of the same name by Mark Sullivan. In December 2021, Holland confirmed that he was set to portray actor and dancer Fred Astaire in a biopic currently in development at Sony.


title: Tom Holland

text: Nadia Khomani of "The Guardian" said that Holland's "cheeky British charm, vulnerability and wit" has made him the object of infatuation on the internet. Jonathan Dean of "The Sunday Times" considered him to be "poised and professional, but also so confident and personable" and took note of his maturity "despite boyish wiriness". German actor Sönke Möhring, his co-star from "The Impossible", similarly remarked on his professionalism, adding, "he is blessed with a deep soul [...] down to earth, very polite and a friendly kid." Kevin Macdonald, who directed Holland in "How I Live Now", praised him as confident, "articulate and enthusiastic", and attributed Holland's success to his positive energy. When asked about the secret to his success, Holland said he believes in avoiding trouble and working hard.


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland appeared on "Screen International" "UK Stars of Tomorrow – 2012", and "The Hollywood Reporter" "Next Gen 2015", a list of promising newcomers in film. In 2019, he featured on "Forbes" "30 Under 30 Europe", a list of influential people under 30 years, and Insider Inc.'s "45 young stars who will one day rule Hollywood". After appearing on "Glamour" "Hot, Young & British Actors 2020", he was named among the best actors under 30 by Tuko, and Complex Networks in 2021. In the former listing, Ryan Mutuku described him as "a darling to the English media" because of his openness and willingness to also give interviews not related to film promotions. Calling him "his generation's biggest leading man" in 2021, "GQ" Oliver Franklin-Wallis wrote, "Holland has ascended to a tier of stardom few actors ever reach, and rarely so young". "Variety" editors Brent Lang and Rebecca Rubin reported in December 2021 that after the success of the "Spider-Man" films, Holland could become a top-paid actor in the future. They noted the lack of young leading men in Hollywood and saw Holland's potential to herald a new generation of successful actors.


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland considers himself to be "an impossible people pleaser", which according to Olivia Singh of Yahoo! News has resulted in his facing burnout and an incident where he vomited after a press conference. A self-admittedly indiscreet person, Holland has gained a reputation for inadvertently spoiling important plot elements of his films during interviews and press conferences. His MCU co-stars labelled him the "least trustworthy" cast member in terms of spoilers. To prevent an incident, he only read parts of "Captain America: Civil War" script. Joe Russo similarly avoided giving Holland the script to "Avengers: Endgame", and Holland knew only his lines. Holland has expressed his views on the film industry. In a 2019 interview with "The Sunday Times", he spoke for more representation of racial minority and the LGBT community in film. That year, when filmmaker Martin Scorsese criticised Marvel films for their lack of portraying human emotions, Holland responded: "he doesn't know what it's like because he's never made one." Holland further said that MCU films will always do well commercially regardless of their quality, whereas a bad independent film might not. In 2022, he criticised actor Tom Cruise for taking credit for "resurrect[ing] Hollywood" during the COVID-19 pandemic with "" (2023) and overlooking the commercial impact of his film "Uncharted".


title: Tom Holland

text: Holland is active on the social networking service Instagram, and he often uses his number of followers to impress auditioners. On the other hand, he describes himself as a private person and is reluctant to discuss his personal life in public. As of November 2021, he is in a relationship with his Spider-Man co-star, Zendaya. He thought the media attention to their relationship breached their privacy. Holland discussed having sleep paralysis nightmares of paparazzi in his bedroom.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Peter Michael Davidson (born November 16, 1993) is an American comedian and actor. He was a cast member of the NBC late-night sketch comedy series "Saturday Night Live" (SNL) for eight seasons, running from 2014 to 2022.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson's father, Scott Matthew Davidson, was a New York firefighter who died in 2001 at the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks. Davidson began his career in the early 2010s with minor guest roles on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", "Friends of the People", "Guy Code", and "Wild 'n Out". He released his comedy specials "Pete Davidson: SMD" (2016) and "Pete Davidson: Alive from New York" (2020).


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson starred and executive produced the comedy film "Big Time Adolescence" (2019), and co-wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy-drama film "The King of Staten Island" (2020). Davidson continued acting in films such as "The Suicide Squad" (2021), "Bodies Bodies Bodies" (2022), "Meet Cute" (2022), and "Marmaduke" (2022).


title: Pete Davidson

text: Peter Michael Davidson was born in New York City's Staten Island borough on November 16, 1993, the son of Amy (née Waters) and Scott Matthew Davidson. His father was a New York firefighter for Ladder 118 who died in service during the September 11, 2001 attacks, along with the rest of his unit. He was last seen running up the stairs of the Marriott World Trade Center just before the building was destroyed when the Twin Towers collapsed. His Requiem Mass was held at St. Clare's Catholic Church in Great Kills, Staten Island. Davidson, then aged seven, was profoundly affected by the loss. He told "The New York Times" that it was "overwhelming" and that he later acted out in school as a result of the trauma, at one point ripping his hair out until he was bald. In October 2016, he revealed on "The Breakfast Club" morning radio show that he struggled with suicidal thoughts when he was younger and that the music of Kid Cudi saved his life.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson's father was predominantly of Jewish ancestry, with some distant German, Irish, and Italian roots. His mother is of mostly Irish ancestry, with some distant German roots. He has a younger sister named Casey and was raised Catholic. Davidson attended St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School, then Tottenville High School before transferring to Brooklyn's Xaverian High School and graduating from there in 2011. After high school, he enrolled at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. After one semester, Davidson decided to pursue a career in comedy full-time. He first tried stand-up comedy at age sixteen in a Staten Island bowling alley, where a group of friends, knowing of his comedy aspirations, dared him to take to the stage.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson's earliest onscreen appearance was in the third episode of the MTV comedy series "Failosophy", which premiered February 28, 2013. The following month, he appeared in "PDA and Moms," a third-season episode of the MTV2 reality TV comedy series "Guy Code", the first of four episodes in which he was featured. That June, his first televised standup aired as part of a second-season episode of the Comedy Central program "Gotham Comedy Live", which showcases standup comedians at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City. The following month, he returned to MTV2 with an appearance on "", his first of six appearances on that show. He subsequently made standup appearances on television and appeared in "Brooklyn Nine-Nine". In 2014, he acquired a role in a Fox comedy pilot, "Sober Companion", but it ultimately did not make it to series.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" with the show's 40th-season premiere, which debuted on September 27, 2014. At age 20, he was the first "SNL" cast member to be born in the 1990s and one of the youngest cast members ever. The first new addition to the cast that season, Davidson was given a chance to audition for the show through regular Bill Hader, whom he had met while filming a small part in the 2015 Judd Apatow feature film comedy "Trainwreck". Hader subsequently told producer Lorne Michaels about him. His debut garnered positive critical notice, with his most noted skits during the season including an "Indiana Jones"-style sketch in which he and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, after being pelted with poison darts, were forced to mutually suck poison out of each other's various body parts, an endeavor that eventually found them entangled in the "69" position. Another involved Davidson being shot in the chest with an arrow by Norman Reedus.


title: Pete Davidson

text: In March 2015, Davidson was a roaster on the "Comedy Central Roast" of Justin Bieber, and his set was praised as one of the best of the show. Among his bolder jokes was one at the expenses of fellow roaster Snoop Dogg, host Kevin Hart, and their 2004 film "Soul Plane". Davidson, whose firefighter father died responding to the September 11 attacks, called the film "the worst experience of [his] life involving a plane". In 2016, he was placed on the "Forbes" 30 under 30 list. In April of that year, Comedy Central filmed Davidson's first stand-up special, "Pete Davidson: SMD", in New York City.


title: Pete Davidson

text: In January 2019, it was announced that Davidson would be touring with John Mulaney in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts for a limited series of comedy shows titled "Sundays with Pete & John." Mulaney and Davidson have become close appearing together on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and "Saturday Night Live". That May, after the 44th-season finale of "SNL", Travis M. Andrews of "The Washington Post" credited Davidson with being the most memorable performer that season and its breakout star, which Andrews attributed to Davidson's mining of his personal struggles and his admission of his comedic missteps, which Andrews felt gave the season a mixture of comedy and pathos.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson collaborated with Machine Gun Kelly to write the sketch "A Message from the Count" for Kelly's album "Hotel Diablo". In 2019 he starred in Jason Orley's "Big Time Adolescence", and had supporting roles in Adam Shankman's "What Men Want", Jeff Tremaine's "The Dirt", Thurop Van Orman's "The Angry Birds Movie 2", and John Turturro's "The Big Lebowski" spin-off "The Jesus Rolls". In February 2020, Davidson released his stand up special "Alive from New York" on Netflix. In May 2020, "The King of Staten Island" was released, which Davidson both starred in and co-wrote with Judd Apatow, who also directed. Davidson was nominated for The Comedy Movie Star of 2020 for his work in "The King of Staten Island" and The Comedy Act of 2020 "Pete Davidson: Alive from New York" at the 46th People's Choice Awards. In April 2021, Davidson was cast as Joey Ramone in a Netflix biopic "I Slept With Joey Ramone", based on the late singer's brother's memoir of the same name. Davidson will also serve as co-writer and executive producer. In August 2021, he appeared as Blackguard in "The Suicide Squad" directed by James Gunn. He voiced Marmaduke in an animated film released on Netflix on May 6, 2022. Following lengthy absences in season 47, it was announced shortly before its finale that it would be Davidson's last on "Saturday Night Live".


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson has been praised for basing his comedy on his own life and employing aspects of his life that have been likened to "a series of brutal truths and vulgar confessions" which make him relatable to audiences. He touches upon topics such as marijuana, sex, and relationships. He talks about incidents from his awkward high school experiences to living in a dormitory during his brief stint at St. Francis College. He jokes about highly sensitive subjects, including the loss of his father during the September 11 attacks. He says he finds that it empowers him to address the feeling of powerlessness that experiencing such tragedy at a young age inflicted upon him. He is a fan of the "Harry Potter" franchise and has incorporated that material into his comedy work as well.


title: Pete Davidson

text: In October 2015, Davidson lived in Brooklyn Heights, New York. In 2019, he lived in Staten Island with his mother in a home they purchased together. In April 2021, he moved into his own residence in Staten Island. In February 2022, Davidson announced plans to move from Staten Island to Brooklyn. Davidson is godfather of Leo, the son of fellow comedian and friend Ricky Velez. He is close friends with Seattle Mariners pitcher Matthew Festa, where they were classmates together at St. Joseph by the Sea High School.


title: Pete Davidson

text: By August 2018, Davidson had over 40 tattoos, including on his arms, legs, chest, hands, and neck. Davidson has his father's firefighter badge number, 8418, tattooed on his left arm. During a May 2021 interview, he indicated that he was having some of them removed.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and on December 5, 2017, he stated on his Instagram account that he got a tattoo on his leg of Clinton, whom he called his "hero", a "badass", and "one of the strongest people in the universe". Clinton herself thanked Davidson for the compliment, joking: "This makes it significantly less awkward that I've had a Pete Davidson tattoo for years." He supported Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.


title: Pete Davidson

text: In January 2022, Davidson and fellow "SNL" colleague Colin Jost bought a decommissioned Staten Island ferry with plans to convert it into a comedy club.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at age 17 or 18, for which he receives intravenous treatment, and uses medical marijuana for pain management and recreationally. On March 6, 2017, Davidson announced on his Instagram account that he had quit drugs and was sober for the first time in eight years. During an interview on comedian Marc Maron's podcast, Davidson clarified that the only drug he used was marijuana and, while he has since cut back on its use considerably, the personal and emotional problems he initially assumed were the result of his daily marijuana use were actually caused by his newly diagnosed borderline personality disorder, for which he has since been undergoing treatment.


title: Pete Davidson

text: On December 3, 2018, Davidson shared a candid Instagram post in which he expressed thoughts of suicide, before deleting his account on the social media platform entirely. The New York Police Department conducted a wellness check on Davidson in response to social media posts from followers and former fiancée Ariana Grande. Davidson had been at the "Saturday Night Live" studio at the time preparing for the last episode of the year before its holiday hiatus. Davidson and John Mulaney, comedian and former "SNL" writer, made humorous references to the Instagram post during the "Weekend Update" segment of the first episode following the holiday hiatus on January 19, 2019.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson dated comedian Carly Aquilino from 2014 until 2015, and dated Cazzie David, daughter of comedian Larry David, from 2016 to 2018.


title: Pete Davidson

text: In May 2018, he started dating singer Ariana Grande. In June 2018, Davidson confirmed he was engaged to Grande, but the engagement was called off in October 2018. Grande's song about Davidson, titled "Pete Davidson", appears on her 2018 album "Sweetener". She also referenced him in her song "Thank U, Next" with the lyric, "Even almost got married/ And for Pete I'm so thankful".


title: Pete Davidson

text: In January 2019, Davidson was reported to be in a relationship with actress Kate Beckinsale, twenty years his senior, but by April they had "called time on their romance". In response to media comments about the age difference, he said that such an age gap was new to him and that the media should ask older men in longer relationships with younger women such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Larry King, and Donald Trump about it.


title: Pete Davidson

text: He also dated actress Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie MacDowell until their relationship ended in October 2019. He was involved with model Kaia Gerber from October 2019 to January 2020. In August 2021, he split from "Bridgerton" actress Phoebe Dynevor, daughter of actress Sally Dynevor, after a five month relationship.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson and Kim Kardashian were first spotted out together in October 2021 following Kardashian's appearance on "Saturday Night Live". During her time hosting an episode of SNL, the two shared an on-screen kiss in a Disney-themed sketch, where they played Jasmine and Aladdin. They began dating in November 2021. Previously, Kardashian filed for divorce from husband Kanye West in February 2021. Following a very public split, Kardashian was legally declared single by a judge in March 2022. West referenced the relationship in his 2022 track "Eazy", in which he threatens to "beat Pete Davidson's ass". The music video for Eazy depicted a claymation figure of Davidson being kidnapped, buried, and showed his decapitated head. West further attacked Davidson on Instagram in February of the same year, calling him a "dickhead" and "Hillary Clinton's ex boyfriend". In August 2022, Davidson and Kardashian split up after nine months of dating.


title: Pete Davidson

text: In March 2021, a woman falsely claimed to be married to Davidson and misrepresented his association with a business of hers. The woman was reported to have illegally entered his home and subsequently faced legal charges.


title: Pete Davidson

text: In March 2022, spaceflight company Blue Origin announced that Davidson would be an "honorary guest" alongside five paying customers onboard NS-20, a suborbital flight of its New Shepard craft planned for later that month. However, the flight was rescheduled, and Blue Origin announced that Davidson was "no longer able" to join the crew of the craft.


title: Pete Davidson

text: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn demanded an apology from Davidson in March 2019, after an "SNL" sketch where he compared the Catholic Church to R. Kelly, an entertainer who had been accused of pedophilia. In the sketch, Davidson said, "[Kelly] is a monster and he should go to jail forever. But if you support the Catholic Church, isn't that like the same thing as being an R. Kelly fan? I don't really see the difference, except for one's music is significantly better." In a statement posted on its website, the diocese criticized the "disgraceful and offensive skit" and added, "The faithful of our Church are disgusted by the harassment by those in news and entertainment, and this sketch offends millions. The mockery of this difficult time in the Church's history serves no purpose." Davidson's comments came after the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens agreed to a record $27.5 million settlement for sex abuse allegations in September 2018.


title: Pete Davidson

text: Davidson was heavily criticized for mocking Republican congressional candidate Dan Crenshaw, who wears an eye patch as a result of a wound incurred while serving as a U.S. Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. Davidson compared Crenshaw to "a hitman in a porno movie" and added, "I'm sorry, I know he lost his eye in war or whatever."


title: Pete Davidson

text: In response to public outrage over the comments, Crenshaw appeared beside Davidson the following Saturday on an "SNL" Weekend Update segment. Davidson apologized to Crenshaw, stating, "I mean this from the bottom of my heart: it was a poor choice of words... the man is a war hero, and he deserves all the respect in the world." Crenshaw accepted Davidson's apology and called on Americans to "never forget" the service and sacrifices of veterans. Crenshaw also paid tribute to Davidson's father, a firefighter who had been killed during the September 11 attacks. Crenshaw and others have speculated that the joke and the subsequent attention may have helped him win Texas's 2nd congressional district in the 2018 midterm election.


title: Pete Davidson

text: In his 2020 Netflix special "Alive from New York", Davidson rescinded the apology previously issued to Crenshaw, implying that it had been issued only because he had been told to do so. In the performance, Davidson tells the audience, "I didn't think I did anything wrong. It was like words that were twisted so that a guy could be famous. So I made fun of this guy with an eye patch, and then, like, I kind of got forced to apologize." Crenshaw responded by stating that, although he had initially hoped that Davidson's apology had been sincere, "you can never tell with comedians" and added, "To be fair, if we took everything that comedians said on a Netflix special seriously, man, our country would be in a world of hurt. I would like to remember the guy that I saw in person and hung out with that night (on "SNL")."


title: Pete Davidson

text: When he left "SNL" in May 2022, Davidson commented that "A lot has changed. In three years, Fox News went from calling me a monster for making fun of Congressman Dan Crenshaw's eye patch to also making fun of Dan Crenshaw's eye patch." He was referring to Fox News' Tucker Carlson calling Crenshaw "Eyepatch McCain."


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines (; ), officially the Republic of the Philippines (), is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It is situated in the western Pacific Ocean and consists of around 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the southwest. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. The Philippines covers an area of and, , it had a population of around 109 million people, making it the world's thirteenth-most populous country. The Philippines has diverse ethnicities and cultures throughout its islands. Manila is the country's capital, while the largest city is Quezon City; both lie within the urban area of Metro Manila.


title: Philippines

text: Negritos, some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples. Adoption of animism, Hinduism and Islam established island-kingdoms called Kedatuan, Rajahnates, and Sultanates. The arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer leading a fleet for Spain, marked the beginning of Spanish colonization. In 1543, Spanish explorer named the archipelago " in honor of Philip II of Spain. Spanish settlement through Mexico, beginning in 1565, led to the Philippines becoming ruled by the Spanish Empire for more than 300 years. During this time, Catholicism became the dominant religion, and Manila became the western hub of trans-Pacific trade. In 1896, the Philippine Revolution began, which then became entwined with the 1898 Spanish–American War. Spain ceded the territory to the United States, while Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic. The ensuing Philippine–American War ended with the United States establishing control over the territory, which they maintained until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II. Following liberation, the Philippines became independent in 1946. Since then, the unitary sovereign state has often had a tumultuous experience with democracy, which included the overthrow of a decades-long dictatorship by a nonviolent revolution.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines is an emerging market and a newly industrialized country whose economy is transitioning from being agriculture centered to services and manufacturing centered. It is a founding member of the United Nations, World Trade Organization, ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, and the East Asia Summit. The location of the Philippines as an island country on the Pacific Ring of Fire that is close to the equator makes it prone to earthquakes and typhoons. The country has a variety of natural resources and is home to a globally significant level of biodiversity.


title: Philippines

text: Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos, during his expedition in 1542, named the islands of Leyte and Samar "'" after Philip II of Spain, then the Prince of Asturias. Eventually the name "'" would be used to cover the archipelago's Spanish possessions. Before Spanish rule was established, other names such as ' (Islands of the West) and Ferdinand Magellan's name for the islands, ', were also used by the Spanish to refer to islands in the region.


title: Philippines

text: During the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed the establishment of the " or the "Philippine Republic". From the period of the Spanish–American War (1898) and the Philippine–American War (1899–1902) until the Commonwealth period (1935–1946), American colonial authorities referred to the country as "The Philippine Islands", a translation of the Spanish name. The United States began the process of changing the reference to the country from "The Philippine Islands" to "The Philippines", specifically when it was mentioned in the Philippine Autonomy Act or the Jones Law. The full official title, "Republic of the Philippines", was included in the 1935 constitution as the name of the future independent state, it is also mentioned in all succeeding constitutional revisions.


title: Philippines

text: There is evidence of early hominins living in what is now the Philippines as early as 709,000 years ago. A small number of bones from Callao Cave potentially represent an otherwise unknown species, "Homo luzonensis", that lived around 50,000 to 67,000 years ago. The oldest modern human remains found on the islands are from the Tabon Caves of Palawan, U/Th-dated to 47,000 ± 11–10,000 years ago. The Tabon Man is presumably a Negrito, who were among the archipelago's earliest inhabitants, descendants of the first human migrations out of Africa via the coastal route along southern Asia to the now sunken landmasses of Sundaland and Sahul.


title: Philippines

text: The first Austronesians reached the Philippines from Taiwan at around 2200 BC, settling the Batanes Islands and northern Luzon. From there, they rapidly spread southwards to the rest of the islands of the Philippines and Southeast Asia. This population assimilated with the existing Negritos resulting in the modern Filipino ethnic groups which display various ratios of genetic admixture between Austronesian and Negrito groups. Genetic signatures also indicate the possibility of migration of Austroasiatic, Papuan, and South Asian people. Jade artifacts have been found dated to 2000 BC, with the lingling-o jade items crafted in Luzon made using raw materials originating from Taiwan. By 1000 BC, the inhabitants of the archipelago had developed into four kinds of social groups: hunter-gatherer tribes, warrior societies, highland plutocracies, and port principalities.


title: Philippines

text: The earliest known surviving written record found in the Philippines is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription. By the 14th century, several the large coastal settlements had emerged as trading centers and became the focal point of societal changes. Some polities had exchanges with other states across Asia. Trade with China is believed to have begun during the Tang dynasty, and grew more extensive during the Song dynasty, and by the second millennium some polities participated in the tributary system of China. Indian cultural traits, such as linguistic terms and religious practices, began to spread within the Philippines during the 10th century, likely via the Hindu Majapahit empire. By the 15th century, Islam was established in the Sulu Archipelago and spread from there.


title: Philippines

text: Polities founded in the Philippines from the 10th–16th centuries include Maynila, Tondo, Namayan, Pangasinan, Cebu, Butuan, Maguindanao, Lanao, Sulu, and Ma-i. The early polities were typically made up of three-tier social structures: a nobility class, a class of "freemen", and a class of dependent debtor-bondsmen. Among the nobility were leaders called "Datus", responsible for ruling autonomous groups called "barangay" or "dulohan". When these barangays banded together, either to form a larger settlement or a geographically looser alliance, the more esteemed among them would be recognized as a "paramount datu", rajah, or sultan which headed the community state. Warfare developed and escalated during the 14th to 16th centuries, and throughout these periods population density is thought to have been low, which was also caused by the frequency of typhoons and the Philippines' location on the Pacific Ring of Fire. In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the area, claimed the islands for Spain and was then killed by Lapulapu's fighters at the Battle of Mactan.


title: Philippines

text: Colonization began when Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from Mexico in 1565. The Spanish forces brought by Legazpi’s five ships were a mix of Spaniards and Novohispanics (Mexicans) from New Spain (modern Mexico). Many Filipinos were brought back to New Spain as slaves and forced crew. In 1571, Spanish Manila became the capital of the Spanish East Indies, which encompassed Spanish territories in Asia and the Pacific. The Spanish successfully invaded the different local states by employing the principle of divide and conquer, bringing most of what is now the Philippines into a single unified administration. Disparate barangays were deliberately consolidated into towns, where Catholic missionaries were more easily able to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed as a territory of the Mexico City-based Viceroyalty of New Spain, and later administered from Madrid following the Mexican War of Independence. Manila was the western hub of the trans-Pacific trade. Manila galleons were constructed in Bicol and Cavite.


title: Philippines

text: During its rule, Spain quelled various indigenous revolts, as well as defending against external military challenges. War against the Dutch from the west, in the 17th century, together with conflict with the Muslims in the south nearly bankrupted the colonial treasury.


title: Philippines

text: Administration of the Philippine islands was considered a drain on the economy of New Spain, and there were debates to abandon it or trade it for other territory. However, this was opposed because of economic potential, security, and the desire to continue religious conversion in the islands and the surrounding region. The Philippines survived on an annual subsidy provided by the Spanish Crown, which averaged 250,000 pesos and was usually paid through the provision of 75 tons of silver bullion being sent from the Americas. British forces occupied Manila from 1762 to 1764 during the Seven Years' War, with Spanish rule restored through the 1763 Treaty of Paris. The Spanish considered their war with the Muslims in Southeast Asia an extension of the Reconquista. The Spanish–Moro conflict lasted for several hundred years. In the last quarter of the 19th century, Spain conquered portions of Mindanao and Jolo, and the Moro Muslims in the Sultanate of Sulu formally recognized Spanish sovereignty.


title: Philippines

text: In the 19th century, Philippine ports opened to world trade, and shifts started occurring within Filipino society. Shifts in social identity occurred, with the term "Filipino" changing from referring to Spaniards born in the Philippines to a term encompassing all people in the archipelago.


title: Philippines

text: Revolutionary sentiments were stoked in 1872 after three activist Catholic priests were executed on weak pretences. This would inspire a propaganda movement in Spain, organized by Marcelo H. del Pilar, José Rizal, Graciano López Jaena, and Mariano Ponce, lobbying for political reforms in the Philippines. Rizal was executed on December 30, 1896, on charges of rebellion. This radicalized many who had previously been loyal to Spain. As attempts at reform met with resistance, Andrés Bonifacio in 1892 established the militant secret society called the Katipunan, who sought independence from Spain through armed revolt.


title: Philippines

text: The Katipunan started the Philippine Revolution in 1896. Internal disputes led to an election in which Bonifacio lost his position and Emilio Aguinaldo was elected as the new leader of the revolution. In 1897, the Pact of Biak-na-Bato brought about the exile of the revolutionary leadership to Hong Kong. In 1898, the Spanish–American War began and reached the Philippines. Aguinaldo returned, resumed the revolution, and declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898. The First Philippine Republic was established on January 21, 1899.


title: Philippines

text: The islands had been ceded by Spain to the United States along with Puerto Rico and Guam as a result of the latter's victory in the Spanish–American War in 1898. As it became increasingly clear the United States would not recognize the First Philippine Republic, the Philippine–American War broke out. The war resulted in the deaths of 250,000 to 1 million civilians, mostly because of famine and disease. After the defeat of the First Philippine Republic in 1902, an American civilian government was established through the Philippine Organic Act. American forces continued to secure and extend their control over the islands, suppressing an attempted extension of the Philippine Republic, securing the Sultanate of Sulu, and establishing control over interior mountainous areas that had resisted Spanish conquest.


title: Philippines

text: Cultural developments strengthened the continuing development of a national identity, and Tagalog began to take precedence over other local languages. Governmental functions were gradually devolved to Filipinos under the Taft Commission and in 1935 the Philippines was granted Commonwealth status with Manuel Quezon as president and Sergio Osmeña as vice president. Quezon's priorities were defence, social justice, inequality and economic diversification, and national character. Tagalog was designated the national language, women's suffrage was introduced, and land reform mooted.


title: Philippines

text: During World War II the Japanese Empire invaded, and the Second Philippine Republic, under Jose P. Laurel, was established as a puppet state. From 1942 the Japanese occupation of the Philippines was opposed by large-scale underground guerrilla activity. Atrocities and war crimes were committed during the war, including the Bataan Death March and the Manila massacre. Allied troops defeated the Japanese in 1945. It is estimated that over one million Filipinos had died by the end of the war. On October 11, 1945, the Philippines became one of the founding members of the United Nations. On July 4, 1946, the Philippines was officially recognized by the United States as an independent nation through the Treaty of Manila, during the presidency of Manuel Roxas.


title: Philippines

text: Efforts to end the Hukbalahap Rebellion began during Elpidio Quirino's term, however, it was only during Ramon Magsaysay's presidency that the movement was suppressed. Magsaysay's successor, Carlos P. Garcia, initiated the Filipino First Policy, which was continued by Diosdado Macapagal, with celebration of Independence Day moved from July 4 to June 12, the date of Emilio Aguinaldo's declaration, and pursuit of a claim on the eastern part of North Borneo.


title: Philippines

text: In 1965, Macapagal lost the presidential election to Ferdinand Marcos. Early in his presidency, Marcos initiated numerous infrastructure projects but, together with his wife Imelda, was accused of corruption and embezzling billions of dollars in public funds. Nearing the end of his last constitutionally-allowed term, Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972. This period of his rule was characterized by political repression, censorship, and human rights violations.


title: Philippines

text: Numerous monopolies controlled by crony businessmen were established in key industries, including logging, coconuts, bananas, telephones, and broadcasting; a sugar monopoly led to a famine on the island of Negros. Marcos’ heavy borrowing early in his presidency resulted in numerous economic crashes, capped by a massive recession in the early 1980s which culminated in the economy contracting by 7.3% in both 1984 and 1985.


title: Philippines

text: On August 21, 1983, Marcos' chief rival, opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr., was assassinated on the tarmac at Manila International Airport. Marcos called a snap presidential election in 1986. Marcos was proclaimed the winner, but the results were widely regarded as fraudulent. The resulting protests led to the People Power Revolution, which forced Marcos and his allies to flee to Hawaii, and Aquino's widow, Corazon Aquino, was installed as president.


title: Philippines

text: The return of democracy and government reforms beginning in 1986 were hampered by national debt, government corruption, and coup attempts. A communist insurgency and a military conflict with Moro separatists persisted, while the administration also faced a series of disasters, including the sinking of the "MV Doña Paz" in December 1987, and the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991. Aquino was succeeded by Fidel V. Ramos, whose economic performance, at 3.6% growth rate, was overshadowed by the onset of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.


title: Philippines

text: Ramos' successor, Joseph Estrada, was overthrown by the 2001 EDSA Revolution and succeeded by his vice president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, on January 20, 2001. Arroyo's 9-year administration was marked by economic growth but was tainted by corruption and political scandals. On November 23, 2009, 34 journalists and several civilians were killed in Maguindanao.


title: Philippines

text: Economic growth continued during Benigno Aquino III's administration, which pushed for good governance and transparency. In 2015, a shootout in Mamasapano resulted in the death of 44 members of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force, which caused a delay in the passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law.


title: Philippines

text: Former Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte won the 2016 presidential election, becoming the first president from Mindanao. Duterte launched an anti-drug campaign and an infrastructure program. The implementation in 2018 of the Bangsamoro Organic Law led to the creation of the autonomous Bangsamoro region in Mindanao. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic reached the country causing the gross domestic product to shrink by 9.5%, the country's worst annual economic performance since records began in 1947.


title: Philippines

text: Marcos' son, Bongbong Marcos, won the 2022 presidential election, together with Duterte's daughter, Sara Duterte, as vice president.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines is an archipelago composed of about 7,640 islands, covering a total area, including inland bodies of water, of around , with cadastral survey data suggesting it may be larger. The exclusive economic zone of the Philippines covers . Its coastline gives it the world's fifth-longest coastline. It is located between 116° 40', and 126° 34' E longitude and 4° 40' and 21° 10' N latitude and is bordered by the Philippine Sea to the east, the South China Sea to the west, and the Celebes Sea to the south. The island of Borneo is located a few hundred kilometers southwest, and Taiwan is located directly to the north. Sulawesi is located to the southwest, and Palau is located to the east of the islands.


title: Philippines

text: The highest mountain is Mount Apo, measuring up to above sea level and located on the island of Mindanao. Running east of the archipelago, the Philippine Trench extends down at the Emden Deep. The longest river is the Cagayan River in northern Luzon, measuring about . Manila Bay, upon the shore of which the capital city of Manila lies, is connected to Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines, by the Pasig River. The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, which runs underground through a karst landscape before reaching the ocean, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Philippines

text: Situated on the western fringes of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity. The Philippine region is seismically active and has been progressively constructed by plates converging towards each other in multiple directions. Around five earthquakes are registered daily, though most are too weak to be felt. The last major earthquakes were the 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake and the 1990 Luzon earthquake. There are many active volcanoes such as Mayon, Mount Pinatubo, and Taal Volcano. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991 produced the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century. The Philippines is the world's second-biggest geothermal energy producer behind the United States, with 18% of the country's electricity needs being met by geothermal power.


title: Philippines

text: The country has valuable mineral deposits as a result of its complex geologic structure and high level of seismic activity. The Philippines is thought to have the second-largest gold deposits after South Africa, along with a large amount of copper deposits, and the world's largest deposits of palladium. Other minerals include chromite, nickel, and zinc. Despite this, a lack of law enforcement, poor management, opposition because of the presence of indigenous communities, and past instances of environmental damage and disaster have resulted in these mineral resources remaining largely untapped.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines is a megadiverse country. Eight major types of forests are distributed throughout the Philippines; dipterocarp, beach forest, pine forest, molave forest, lower montane forest, upper montane or mossy forest, mangroves, and ultrabasic forest. As of 2021, the Philippines has 7 million hectares of forest cover, according to official estimates, though experts contend that the actual figure is likely much lower. Deforestation, often the result of illegal logging, is an acute problem in the Philippines. Forest cover has declined from 70% of the Philippines's total land area in 1900 to about 18.3% in 1999. With an estimated 13,500 plant species in the country, 3,200 of which are unique to the islands, Philippine rainforests have an array of flora, including many rare types of orchids and rafflesia.


title: Philippines

text: Around 1,100 land vertebrate species can be found in the Philippines including over 100 mammal species and 243 bird species not thought to exist elsewhere. The Philippines has among the highest rates of discovery in the world with sixteen new species of mammals discovered in the last ten years. Because of this, the rate of endemism for the Philippines has risen and likely will continue to rise. Parts of its marine waters contain the highest diversity of shorefish species in the world.


title: Philippines

text: Large reptiles include the Philippine crocodile and saltwater crocodile. The largest crocodile in captivity, known locally as Lolong, was captured in the southern island of Mindanao, and died on February 10, 2013, from pneumonia and cardiac arrest. The national bird, known as the Philippine eagle, has the longest body of any eagle; it generally measures 86 to 102 cm (2.82 to 3.35 ft) in length and weighs 4.7 to 8.0 kg (10.4 to 17.6 lb). The Philippine eagle is part of the family Accipitridae and is endemic to the rainforests of Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. The Philippines has the third highest number of endemic birds in the world (behind Indonesia and Australia) with 243 endemics. Notable birds include the Celestial monarch, flame-templed babbler, Red-vented cockatoo, Whiskered pitta, Sulu hornbill, Rufous hornbill, Luzon bleeding-heart and the Flame-breasted fruit dove.


title: Philippines

text: Philippine maritime waters produce unique and diverse marine life and is an important part of the Coral Triangle ecoregion. The total number of corals and marine fish species in this ecoregion is estimated at 500 and 2,400 respectively. New records and species discoveries continue. The Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea was declared a World Heritage Site in 1993. Philippine waters also sustain the cultivation of fish, crustaceans, oysters, and seaweeds. One species of oyster, Pinctada maxima, produces pearls that are naturally golden in color. Pearls have been declared a "national gem".


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines has a tropical maritime climate that is usually hot and humid. There are three seasons: a hot dry season from March to May; a rainy season from June to November; and a cool dry season from December to February. The southwest monsoon lasts from May to October and the northeast monsoon from November to April. Temperatures usually range from to . The coolest month is January; the warmest is May.


title: Philippines

text: The average yearly temperature is around . In considering temperature, location in terms of latitude and longitude is not a significant factor, and temperatures at sea level tend to be in the same range. Altitude usually has more of an impact. The average annual temperature of Baguio at an elevation of above sea level is , making it a popular destination during hot summers. Annual rainfall measures as much as in the mountainous east coast section but less than in some of the sheltered valleys.


title: Philippines

text: Sitting astride the typhoon belt, the islands experience 15–20 typhoons annually from July to October, with around 19 typhoons entering the Philippine area of responsibility in a typical year and 8 or 9 making landfall. Historically typhoons were sometimes referred to as "baguios". The wettest recorded typhoon to hit the Philippines dropped in Baguio from July 14 to 18, 1911. The Philippines is highly exposed to climate change and is among the world's ten countries that are most vulnerable to climate change risks.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines has a democratic government in the form of a constitutional republic with a presidential system. The president functions as both head of state and head of government and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The president is elected by direct election for a single six-year term. The president appoints and presides over the cabinet. The bicameral Congress is composed of the Senate, serving as the upper house, with members elected to a six-year term, and the House of Representatives, serving as the lower house, with members elected to a three-year term. Philippine politics tends to be dominated by those with well-known names, such as members of political dynasties or celebrities.


title: Philippines

text: Senators are elected at-large while the representatives are elected from both legislative districts and through sectoral representation. The judicial power is vested in the Supreme Court, composed of a chief justice as its presiding officer and fourteen associate justices, all of whom are appointed by the president from nominations submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council.


title: Philippines

text: There have been attempts to change the government to a federal, unicameral, or parliamentary government since the Ramos administration. There is a significant amount of corruption in the Philippines, which some historians attribute to the system of governance put in place during the Spanish colonial period.


title: Philippines

text: As a founding and active member of the United Nations, the country has been elected to the Security Council. Carlos P. Romulo was a former president of the United Nations General Assembly. The country is an active participant in peacekeeping missions, particularly in East Timor. Over 10 million Filipinos live and work overseas.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines is a founding and active member of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). It has hosted several summits and is an active contributor to the direction and policies of the bloc. It is also a member of the East Asia Summit, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Group of 24, and the Non-Aligned Movement. The country is also seeking to obtain observer status in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines has a long relationship with the United States, covering economics, security, and people-to-people relations. A Mutual Defense Treaty between the two countries was signed in 1951 and supplemented with the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement and the 2016 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. The Philippines supported American policies during the Cold War and participated in the Korean and Vietnam wars. In 2003 the Philippines was designated a major non-NATO ally. Under President Duterte, ties with the United States have weakened with military purchases instead coming from China and Russia, while Duterte states that the Philippines will no longer participate in any U.S.-led wars. In 2021, it was revealed the United States would defend the Philippines including the South China Sea.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines attaches great importance to its relations with China and has established significant cooperation with the country. Japan is the biggest bilateral contributor of official development assistance to the country. Although historical tensions exist because of the events of World War II, much of the animosity has faded. Historical and cultural ties continue to affect relations with Spain. Relations with Middle Eastern countries are shaped by the high number of Filipinos working in these countries, and by issues related to the Muslim minority in the Philippines; concerns have been raised regarding issues such as domestic abuse and war affecting the approximately 2.5 million overseas Filipino workers in the region.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines has claims in the Spratly Islands which overlap with claims by China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The largest of its controlled islands in Thitu Island, which contains the Philippines's smallest village. The Scarborough Shoal standoff in 2012, where China took control of the shoal from the Philippines, led to an international arbitration case which the Philippines eventually won but China had rejected, and has made the shoal a prominent symbol in the wider dispute.


title: Philippines

text: The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) consist of three branches: the Philippine Air Force, the Philippine Army, and the Philippine Navy. The AFP is a volunteer force. Civilian security is handled by the Philippine National Police under the Department of the Interior and Local Government. , $2.843 billion, or 1.1 percent of GDP is spent on military forces. As of 2021, this number has increased to $4.40 billion.


title: Philippines

text: In Bangsamoro, the largest separatist organizations, the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, were engaging the government politically in the 2000s. Other more militant groups like the Abu Sayyaf have kidnapped foreigners for ransom, particularly in the Sulu Archipelago. Their presence decreased through successful security provided by the Philippine government. The Communist Party of the Philippines and its military wing, the New People's Army, have been waging guerrilla warfare against the government since the 1970s, reaching its apex in 1986, when communist guerrillas gained control of a fifth of the country's territory before significantly dwindling militarily and politically after the return of democracy in 1986.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines is governed as a unitary state, with the exception of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), although there have been several steps towards decentralization within the unitary framework. A 1991 law devolved some powers to local governments. The country is divided into 17 regions, 82 provinces, 146 cities, 1,488 municipalities, and 42,036 barangays. Regions other than Bangsamoro serve primarily to organize the provinces of the country for administrative convenience. , Calabarzon was the most populated region while the National Capital Region (NCR) was the most densely populated.


title: Philippines

text: The Commission on Population estimated the country's population to be 107,190,081 as of December 31, 2018, based on the latest population census of 2015 conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority. The population increased from 1990 to 2008 by approximately 28 million, a 45% growth in that time frame. The first official census in the Philippines was carried out in 1877 and recorded a population of 5,567,685.


title: Philippines

text: A third of the population resides in Metro Manila and its immediately neighboring regions. The 2.34% average annual population growth rate between 1990 and 2000 decreased to an estimated 1.90% for the 2000–2010 period. Government attempts to reduce population growth have been a contentious issue. The population's median age is 22.7 years with 60.9% aged from 15 to 64 years old. Life expectancy at birth is 69.4 years, 73.1 years for females and 65.9 years for males. Poverty incidence dropped to 18.1% in 2021 from 25.2% in 2012.


title: Philippines

text: The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both within the single urban area of Metro Manila. Metro Manila is the most populous of the 3 defined metropolitan areas in the Philippines and the 5th most populous in the world. Census data from 2015 showed it had a population of 12,877,253 constituting almost 13% of the national population. Including suburbs in the adjacent provinces (Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal) of Greater Manila, the population is around 23,088,000. Across the country, the Philippines has a total urbanization rate of 51.2%. Metro Manila's gross regional product was estimated to be ₱6.158 trillion (at constant 2020 prices).


title: Philippines

text: There is substantial ethnic diversity with the Philippines, a product of the seas and mountain ranges dividing the archipelago along with significant foreign influences. According to the 2010 census, 24.4% of Filipinos are Tagalog, 11.4% Visayans/Bisaya (excluding Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray), 9.9% Cebuano, 8.8% Ilocano, 8.4% Hiligaynon, 6.8% Bikol, 4% Waray, and 26.2% are "others", which can be broken down further to yield more distinct nontribal groups like the Moro, Kapampangan, Pangasinense, Ibanag, and Ivatan. There are also indigenous peoples like the Igorot, the Lumad, the Mangyan, and the tribes of Palawan.


title: Philippines

text: Negritos are considered among the earliest inhabitants of the islands. These minority aboriginal settlers are an Australoid group and are left over from the first human migration out of Africa to Australia and were likely displaced by later waves of migration. At least some Negritos in the Philippines have Denisovan admixture in their genomes. Ethnic Filipinos generally belong to several Southeast Asian ethnic groups classified linguistically as part of the Austronesian or Malayo-Polynesian speaking people. There is some uncertainty over the origin of this Austronesian speaking population. It is likely that ancestors related to Taiwanese aborigines brought their language and mixed with existing populations in the area. The Lumad and Sama-Bajau ethnic groups have ancestral affinity with the Austroasiatic Mlabri and Htin peoples of mainland Southeast Asia. There was a westward expansion of Papuan ancestry from Papua New Guinea to eastern Indonesia and Mindanao detected among the Blaan and Sangir.


title: Philippines

text: Under Spanish rule there was some immigration from elsewhere in the empire, especially from the Spanish Americas. According to the Kaiser Permanente (KP) Research Program on Genes, Environment, and Health (RPGEH), a substantial proportion of Filipinos sampled have "modest" amounts of European descent consistent with older admixture. In addition to this, the National Geographic project concluded in 2016 that people living in the Philippine archipelago carried genetic markers in the following percentages: 53% Southeast Asia and Oceania, 36% Eastern Asia, 5% Southern Europe, 3% Southern Asia, and 2% Native American (From Latin America).


title: Philippines

text: Chinese Filipinos are mostly the descendants of immigrants from Fujian in China after 1898, numbering around 2 million, although there are an estimated 20% of Filipinos who have partial Chinese ancestry, stemming from precolonial and colonial Chinese migrants. While a distinct minority, Chinese Filipinos are well integrated into Filipino society. As of 2015, there are 220,000 to 600,000 American citizens living in the country. There are also up to 250,000 Amerasians scattered across the cities of Angeles, Manila, and Olongapo. Other important non-indigenous minorities include Indians and Arabs. There are also Japanese people, which include escaped Christians (Kirishitan) who fled the persecutions of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The descendants of mixed-race couples are known as "Tisoy".


title: Philippines

text: "Ethnologue" lists 186 individual languages in the Philippines, 182 of which are living languages, while 4 no longer have any known speakers. Most native languages are part of the Philippine branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is a branch of the Austronesian language family. In addition, various Spanish-based creole varieties collectively called Chavacano exist. There are also many Philippine Negrito languages that have unique vocabularies that survived Austronesian acculturation.


title: Philippines

text: Filipino and English are the official languages of the country. Filipino is a standardized version of Tagalog, spoken mainly in Metro Manila. Both Filipino and English are used in government, education, print, broadcast media, and business, with third local languages often being used at the same time. The Philippine constitution provides for the promotion of Spanish and Arabic on a voluntary and optional basis. Spanish, which was widely used as a lingua franca in the late nineteenth century, has since declined greatly in use, although Spanish loanwords are still present today in Philippine languages, while Arabic is mainly taught in Islamic schools in Mindanao.


title: Philippines

text: Nineteen regional languages act as auxiliary official languages used as media of instruction: Aklanon, Bikol, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ibanag, Ilocano, Ivatan, Kapampangan, Kinaray-a, Maguindanao, Maranao, Pangasinan, Sambal, Surigaonon, Tagalog, Tausug, Waray, and Yakan. Other indigenous languages such as, Cuyonon, Ifugao, Itbayat, Kalinga, Kamayo, Kankanaey, Masbateño, Romblomanon, Manobo, and several Visayan languages are prevalent in their respective provinces. Article 3 of Republic Act No. 11106 declared the Filipino Sign Language as the national sign language of the Philippines, specifying that it shall be recognized, supported and promoted as the medium of official communication in all transactions involving the deaf, and as the language of instruction of deaf education.


title: Philippines

text: The Philippines is a secular state which protects freedom of religion. Christianity is the dominant faith, shared by about 89% of the population. , the country had the world's third largest Roman Catholic population, and was the largest Christian nation in Asia. Census data from 2015 found that about % of the population professed Catholicism. Around 37% of the population regularly attend Mass. 29% of self-identified Catholics consider themselves very religious. An independent Catholic church, the Philippine Independent Church, has around 756,225 adherents. Protestants were 9.13% of the population in 2015. % of the population are members of Iglesia ni Cristo. The combined following of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches comes to % of the total population.


title: Philippines

text: Islam is the second largest religion. The Muslim population of the Philippines was reported as % of the total population according to census returns in 2015. Conversely, a 2012 report by the National Commission of Muslim Filipinos stated that about 10,700,000 or 11% of Filipinos are Muslims. The majority of Muslims live in Mindanao and nearby islands. Most practice Sunni Islam under the Shafi'i school.


title: Philippines

text: The percentage of combined positive atheist and agnostic people in the Philippines was about 3% of the population as of 2008. The 2015 Philippine Census reported the religion of about % of the population as "none". A 2014 survey by Gallup International Association reported that 21% of its respondents identify as "not a religious person". Around % of the population practice indigenous Philippine folk religions, whose practices and folk beliefs are often syncretized with Christianity and Islam. Buddhism is practiced by around % of the population, concentrated among Filipinos of Chinese descent.


title: Philippines

text: In 2016, 63.1% of healthcare came from private expenditures while 36.9% was from the government (12.4% from the national government, 7.1% from the local government, and 17.4% from social health insurance). Total health expenditure share in GDP for the year 2021 was 6%. Per capita health expenditure in 2021 was , higher than the 8,511.52 in 2020. The budget allocation for Healthcare in 2019 was ₱98.6 billion and had an increase in budget in 2014 with a record high in the collection of taxes from the House Bill 5727 (commonly known as Sin tax Bill).


title: Philippines

text: There were 101,688 hospital beds in the country in 2016, with government hospital beds accounting for 47% and private hospital beds for 53%.


title: Philippines

text: In 2009, there were an estimated 90,370 physicians or 1 per every 833 people, 480,910 nurses and 43,220 dentists. Retention of skilled practitioners is a problem; seventy percent of nursing graduates go overseas to work. Since 1967, the Philippines had become the largest global supplier of nurses for export. The Philippines suffers a triple burden of high levels of communicable diseases, high levels of non-communicable diseases, and high exposure to natural disasters.


title: Philippines

text: In 2018, there were 1,258 hospitals licensed by the Department of Health, of which were government-run and private. A total of 20,065 barangay health stations and 2,590 rural health units provide primary care services throughout the country as of 2016. Cardiovascular diseases account for more than 35% of all deaths. 9,264 cases of HIV were reported for the year 2016, with 8,151 being asymptomatic cases. At the time the country was considered a low-HIV-prevalence country, with less than 0.1% of the adult population estimated to be HIV-positive. HIV/AIDS cases increased from 12,000 in 2005 to 39,622 as of 2016, with 35,957 being asymptomatic cases.