Also known as: Lalawigan ng Camarines Sur, Ambos Camarines
Camarines Sur is a province in Region V (Bicol Region). Population 2.06M (PSA 2024 census), 1 component city + 35 municipalities, 1,063 barangays total, land area 5,511.9 km². Provincial capital: Pili (not Naga City, which is an independent component city, administratively separate from the province).
Camarines Sur is a province in Region V (Bicol Region). Its capital is Pili (not Naga City, which is an independent component city, administratively separate from the province).
Camarines Sur had 2,063,314 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.
Camarines Sur covers 5,511.9 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
Camarines Sur has 1 component city and 35 municipalities (36 LGUs under the province), per PSA's Philippine Standard Geographic Code (2Q 2026), and 1,063 barangays. Naga City is an independent component city located within Camarines Sur, outside the province's supervision, so it is not counted above; counting it, there are 2 cities in all.
Camarines Sur's 1 component city is Iriga City. Its 35 municipalities are Baao, Balatan, Bato, Bombon, Buhi, Bula, Cabusao, Calabanga, Camaligan, Canaman, Caramoan, Del Gallego, Gainza, Garchitorena, Goa, Lagonoy, Libmanan, Lupi, Magarao, Milaor, Minalabac, Nabua, Ocampo, Pamplona, Pasacao, Pili, Presentacion, Ragay, Sagñay, San Fernando, San Jose, Sipocot, Siruma, Tigaon and Tinambac. Naga City is an independent component city located within Camarines Sur, outside the province's supervision, so it is not counted above; counting it, there are 2 cities in all.
Camarines Sur is the largest and most populous province in the Bicol Region, occupying the center of the Bicol Peninsula between the Pacific seaboard and the Bicol River basin that drains into San Miguel Bay. The province's economy is still substantially agricultural — rice, corn, coconut, and abacá dominate the lowlands, supplemented by freshwater fisheries around Lake Buhi and the Bicol River system — but Naga City, near the province's geographic center, has grown into a genuine secondary commercial hub for the region, with jewelry manufacturing, food processing, and an expanding BPO sector. Tourism is a real and growing driver too: the Camarines Sur Watersports Complex in Pili put the province on the map for wakeboarding, and the Caramoan Peninsula's limestone coves draw a steady stream of visitors to the province's eastern coast.
Two features shape how the province plans around hazards. First, it sits squarely in the Philippines' main typhoon corridor — PAGASA data lists the Bicol Region among the most frequently struck in the country, and low-lying municipalities along the Bicol River, including Libmanan, Milaor, and Bula, flood on a near-annual basis. Second, PHIVOLCS has classified both Mount Isarog and Mount Iriga (also called Mount Asog) as active volcanoes, which means municipalities on their slopes carry lahar, landslide, and phreatic-explosion risk into their land-use planning, not just settlement pressure.
The coordination complexity that matters most for provincial planning, though, is jurisdictional rather than physical: Naga City, the province's most nationally recognized city and its historic capital, became an independent component city, which by law meant a provincial government could no longer be seated inside it. The capital moved to the adjoining municipality of Pili in 1955, where it remains. That leaves the Provincial Planning and Development Office coordinating CLUP and disaster-risk integration across 35 municipalities and Iriga City — 36 LGUs under its supervision, 37 counting Naga — around a metro core, Naga, that the provincial government has no direct authority over, even though Naga's growth and land pressure spill directly into neighboring municipalities like Camaligan, Canaman, and Pili itself.
Key industries: Agriculture (rice, corn, coconut, abacá), Freshwater fisheries (Bicol River basin, Lake Buhi), Tourism (CamSur Watersports Complex, Caramoan), Commerce + jewelry manufacturing (Naga trade hub), BPO / IT services (Naga)
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.
Camarines Sur's provincial planning office has to coordinate land-use and disaster-risk compliance across 36 separate LGUs while its most prominent city, Naga, sits entirely outside its jurisdiction as an independent component city — a split that makes cross-LGU visibility harder, not easier. Nova Gov is designed to help a planning office like Camarines Sur's keep that fragmented picture organized in one place, and the pilot program offers a starting point for provinces working through exactly this kind of jurisdictional split.
Camarines Sur's provincial government coordinates land-use compliance for 36 LGUs while Naga City, its economic center, runs independently. If your planning office is working through a similar split — or just needs a clearer view across many LGUs — Nova Gov's pilot program is worth a conversation.
Talk to the pilot team →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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