Also known as: Lalawigan ng Albay
Albay is a province in Region V (Bicol Region), Southern Luzon. Population 1.38M (PSA 2024 census), 3 cities + 15 municipalities, 720 barangays total, land area 2,574.91 km². Provincial capital: Legazpi City.
Albay is a province in Region V (Bicol Region). Its capital is Legazpi City.
Albay had 1,379,398 residents in the 2024 census (PSA 2024 Census of Population (POPCEN 2024), reference date July 1, 2024). That is the most recent official count. There is no 2026 census result, so any 2026 population figure is an estimate.
Albay covers 2,574.91 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
Albay has 3 component cities and 15 municipalities (18 LGUs under the province), per PSA's Philippine Standard Geographic Code (2Q 2026), and 720 barangays.
Albay's 3 component cities are Legazpi City, Ligao City and Tabaco City. Its 15 municipalities are Bacacay, Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Jovellar, Libon, Malilipot, Malinao, Manito, Oas, Pio Duran, Polangui, Rapu-Rapu, Santo Domingo and Tiwi.
According to PSA census data and PHIVOLCS hazard mapping, Albay's land-use planning is inseparable from disaster risk reduction: Mayon Volcano's Permanent Danger Zone and Extended Danger Zone cut directly across Legazpi, Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan, Santo Domingo, and Malilipot, forcing every CLUP in those LGUs to zone around a live 6–9 km no-build radius that shifts with each eruption alert level. The province's Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) — the first dedicated disaster-management office of any PH province — coordinates pre-emptive evacuation and permanent resettlement-site planning alongside the regular PDPFP process.
Key industries: Agriculture (abaca, coconut, rice), Geothermal energy (Tiwi, Bacon-Manito field), Tourism (Mayon Volcano, Cagsawa Ruins), Fishing, Disaster-risk-reduction services and training (APSEMO model)
Coastal LGUs (Tabaco, Malinao, Tiwi, Bacacay, Rapu-Rapu) separately manage typhoon-corridor exposure, since Albay sits in one of the most typhoon-exposed province clusters in the country, and geothermal development (Tiwi, and the Bacon-Manito field shared with Sorsogon) adds a third land-use layer of energy-reservation zoning on top of the volcanic and coastal hazard maps.
Key industries: Agriculture (abaca, coconut, rice), Geothermal energy (Tiwi, Bacon-Manito field), Tourism (Mayon Volcano, Cagsawa Ruins), Fishing, Disaster-risk-reduction services and training (APSEMO model)
More on the regulatory framework: CLUP explainer · RA 7160 explainer · SGLG explainer · full glossary. Working a CLUP review cycle? Run the CLUP readiness self-check or see CLUP compliance monitoring.
Albay is a clear validation case for Nova Gov's disaster-coordination layer: a province that already runs one of the country's most sophisticated multi-hazard evacuation systems (APSEMO) needs a live dashboard reconciling 18 component LGUs' hazard-zone CLUPs against a Mayon danger-zone boundary that itself moves with alert-level changes -- exactly the kind of cross-LGU, versioned spatial-planning sync a static PDPFP document can't do on its own.
Albay's PDPFP has to reconcile Mayon's shifting danger-zone boundary, typhoon-corridor coastal zoning, and geothermal-reservation land use across 18 component LGUs. Book a working consultation and we'll talk through how a pilot could handle that against your CLUP before you commit to anything.
Schedule an Albay PDPFP consultation →We build custom software around CLUP, CDP and zoning work, for LGU planning offices and for the planning firms LGUs hire. Free 30-minute workflow call, then a fixed written quote.
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