Also known as: Lalawigan ng Davao Oriental
Davao Oriental is a province in Region XI (Davao Region). Population 590K (PSA 2024 census), 1 city + 10 municipalities, 183 barangays total, land area 5,679.64 km². Provincial capital: Mati City.
Davao Oriental is a province in Region XI (Davao Region). Its capital is Mati City.
Davao Oriental had 590,042 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 Oriental covers 5,679.64 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
Davao Oriental has 1 component city and 10 municipalities (11 LGUs under the province), per PSA's Philippine Standard Geographic Code (2Q 2026), and 183 barangays.
Davao Oriental's 1 component city is Mati City. Its 10 municipalities are Baganga, Banaybanay, Boston, Caraga, Cateel, Governor Generoso, Lupon, Manay, San Isidro and Tarragona.
Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) made landfall in Baganga, Davao Oriental before dawn on December 4, 2012 as a Category 5 storm, with Baganga, Cateel, and Boston hardest hit by wind, flash floods, and landslides. An early provincial disaster-council tally two days after landfall counted 81 dead province-wide; the toll continued rising in the weeks that followed. This is a distinct disaster from the catastrophic debris flow that later struck Barangay Andap in New Bataan, in neighboring Davao de Oro, as the same storm system moved further inland — different provinces, different mechanisms, not to be conflated.
Key industries: Agriculture (coconut, banana, cacao), Fishing and aquaculture (Pujada Bay, Baganga Bay), Eco-tourism (Dahican Beach, Mount Hamiguitan), Nickel mining (contested near Mt. Hamiguitan)
The province is also home to the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since June 2014, protecting 6,834 hectares including a rare 'pygmy forest' and confirmed Philippine Eagle habitat. That sanctuary sits at the center of a live land-use conflict: in late 2025 and early 2026, a provincial survey found roughly 200 hectares of forestland stripped bare by nearby nickel mining, prompting the provincial board to withdraw its support for mining operations near the sanctuary.
Key industries: Agriculture (coconut, banana, cacao), Fishing and aquaculture (Pujada Bay, Baganga Bay), Eco-tourism (Dahican Beach, Mount Hamiguitan), Nickel mining (contested near Mt. Hamiguitan)
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 pushing back against nickel mining encroaching on a UNESCO World Heritage sanctuary, while still carrying land-use lessons from a 2012 typhoon disaster distinct from its neighbor's, is exactly the kind of live conservation-versus-industry conflict a cross-LGU planning dashboard is built to help a PPDO document and track.
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