QUICK FACTS:

Population: 1,776,847 (excluding Tacloban City)

Land Area: 6,335.44 square kilometers (excluding Tacloban City)

Tacloban (Capital City)

Tacloban City Population: 251,881

Tacloban City Land Area: 201.72 square kilometers

Leyte Province is the largest and oldest province in the Eastern Visayas Region. It is bounded on the north by the Province of Biliran, in the east by the San Juanico Strait and the island of Samar, the Visayan Sea and Ormoc Seas in the west and Southern Leyte to its south. With a total land area of 6,335.44 square kilometers, it features many low mountains and volcanoes and its terrain is very rugged from the northwest to the southeast. In the east, there is a very pronounced rainfall from November to January, while in the west the rainfall is more or less distributed throughout the year.

It includes 3 cities, 40 municipalities and 1,641 barangays, with its capital named Tacloban. The province boasts a total population of 1,776,847 ( excluding Tacloban City) as of the 2020 census. When Tacloban City is included for geographical purposes, the population is 2,028,728 people. The other cities are Ormoc and Baybay. 

The major languages are Waray and Cebuano, with such minor ones as English, Chinese and Tagalog.

Leyte abounds with natural allures, rich culture and rare historical landmarks, which makes it an ideal travel destination for local and foreign tourists. Leyte is also known as the site of the largest naval battle in modern history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which took place during the Second World War.

The province is the site of the largest geothermal plant in Asia, making it one of the resource-rich provinces of the Philippines. Excess energy of the numerous power plants in the geothermal valley that generate electricity is supplied to the national grid that adds to the energy demand in Luzon and Mindanao. Mining industry has started to pick up in the province with the exploration in MacArthur. The iron smelting in Isabel has been operational for more than 20 years since its inception.

Its major sectors are agriculture, industry and tourism. Abaca is planted on 37% of Leyte's total land area, and it ranks first in terms of area planted with coconut in the Eastern Visayas region. The industry mainly consists of the pulp processing and paper making in which abaca is the raw material used, coconut products processing, ore mining and processing, sugarcane processing and mineral water bottling, etc..

Leyte abounds with natural allures, rich culture and rare historical landmarks, which makes it an ideal travel destination for local and foreign tourists. Leyte is also known as the site of the largest naval battle in modern history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which took place during the Second World War.

Among the popular tourist spots are Lake Danao National Park (Ormoc),  San Juanico Bridge (Tacloban), the longest bridge in the Philippines, with a length of 2.16 kilometers –connects two provinces, which are Samar and Leyte; Leyte Landing Memorial (Palo) also known as MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park; Sambawan Island (Biliran) admired for its clear turquoise water, exciting sea sports, white sand; Calanggaman Island which is shaped like an ant and boasts of its very white powdery sand, cool and crystal clear water, and amazing stretch of sand bar.