Connector is wishing all our friends from the Philippines a happy national day. To celebrate you and the place you call home, here’s a few fun facts!
1. The Philippines is considered the text capital of the world. Every day, 35 million Filipinos send about 450 million SMS messages. This is more than the total number of daily text messages sent in the U.S. and Europe combined. That’s a lot of texting!
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2. The Philippines is actually an ‘archipelago,’ which is an extensive group of islands. It is the second largest in the world.
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3. The Philippines was the first country in Southeast Asia to gain independence after World War II, in 1945.
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4. There are about 175 languages spoken in the Philippines, with 171 of them considered “living,” while four tribal dialects have no known living speakers.
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5. The Philippines experiences one large-magnitude earthquake (7.75 or higher on the Richter scale) every 10 years, seven earthquakes of major magnitude (7.0 to 7.4) every 10 years, and five earthquakes of moderate magnitude (6.0 to 6.9) every year.
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6. Jellyfish Lake in the Philippines contains more than 13 million jellyfish.
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7. Pop singer Bruno Mars is half Filipino and half Puerto Rican. His childhood nickname was “Little Elvis.” His real name is Peter Gene Bayot Hernandez. His stage name was inspired by the chubby wrestler Bruno Sammartino.
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8. The Philippines are named after King Philip II of Spain. Explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the Eastern Visayas Felipenas first, and the name was later applied to the entire archipelago.
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9. The Philippines is home to the world’s longest snake, the Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus), which also happens to be the world’s longest reptile. It can grow to 28.5 feet (8.7 m).
via GIPHY10. About 11% of the population of the Philippines – more than 11 million people – work overseas.
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