What country is an archipelago of about 7,600 islands in the western Pacific?

The Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines is a sovereign island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It is an archipelago (political unit) which consists of about 7,641 islands that are categorized broadly under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The capital city of the Philippines is Manila and the most populous city is Quezon City, both part of Metro Manila.

With the three island divisions of the Philippines, they are divided into 18 regions, 81 provinces, 145 cities, 1,489 municipalities, and 42,029 barangays (formerly referred to as barrio/village). In addition, Section 2 of Republic Act No. 5446 asserts that the definition of the territorial sea around the Philippine archipelago does not affect any claim over the eastern part of Sabah (a Malaysian state occupying the northern part of Borneo).

Today, the Philippines is considered to be an emerging world market and a newly industrialized country. Public officials are saying that it has an economy transitioning from being one based on agriculture to one based more on services and manufacturing. People living in this country are very hopeful about the future.