Also known as: Compostela Valley, Lalawigan ng Davao de Oro
Davao de Oro is a province in Region XI (Davao Region). Population 784K (PSA 2024 census), 0 cities + 11 municipalities, 237 barangays total, land area 4,560.09 km². Provincial capital: Nabunturan.
Davao de Oro is a province in Region XI (Davao Region). Its capital is Nabunturan.
Davao de Oro had 783,775 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.
Davao de Oro covers 4,560.09 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
Davao de Oro has 0 component cities and 11 municipalities (11 LGUs under the province), per PSA's Philippine Standard Geographic Code (2Q 2026), and 237 barangays.
Davao de Oro has no component cities. Its 11 municipalities are Compostela, Laak, Mabini, Maco, Maragusan, Mawab, Monkayo, Montevista, Nabunturan, New Bataan and Pantukan.
Davao de Oro was known as Compostela Valley until Republic Act No. 11297 renamed it in 2019 — 'de Oro' means 'of gold' in Spanish, reflecting the province's identity as one of Mindanao's major gold-producing areas, ratified by a provincial plebiscite in December 2019 with 97.2% voting yes.
Key industries: Gold and copper mining (Apex Mining, the Kingking Copper-Gold Project), Cacao, Agriculture (banana, rice, coconut)
Gold mining defines much of the province's land-use picture: Apex Mining has operated the Maco Gold Mine since the 1970s, and the Kingking Copper-Gold Project in Pantukan — one of the world's largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits — is moving toward a targeted 2029 production start. The Mt. Diwata area in Monkayo has hosted informal small-scale gold mining since a 1980s gold rush; recurring landslides there have continued for two decades, most recently killing 7 people in February 2024 — a separate, smaller-scale problem from the province's deadliest disaster, the December 2012 Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) debris flow in New Bataan, which killed an estimated 566 to 612 people province-wide. Cacao has become a second economic pillar, with Nabunturan branded locally as the province's 'cacao country.'
Key industries: Gold and copper mining (Apex Mining, the Kingking Copper-Gold Project), Cacao, Agriculture (banana, rice, coconut)
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.
A province actively managing a decades-long informal-mining landslide risk, a major new copper-gold project moving toward production, and a provincial SGLG status that's fallen behind its own component LGUs is exactly the kind of multi-hazard, multi-stakeholder planning load a live cross-LGU dashboard is built to help a PPDO track.
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