Also known as: Lalawigan ti Kalinga
Kalinga is a province in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). Population 235K (PSA 2024 census), 1 city + 7 municipalities, 153 barangays total, land area 3,231.25 km². Provincial capital: Tabuk City.
Kalinga is a province in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). Its capital is Tabuk City.
Kalinga had 235,391 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.
Kalinga covers 3,231.25 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
Kalinga has 1 component city and 7 municipalities (8 LGUs under the province), per PSA's Philippine Standard Geographic Code (2Q 2026), and 153 barangays.
Kalinga's 1 component city is Tabuk City. Its 7 municipalities are Balbalan, Lubuagan, Pasil, Pinukpuk, Rizal, Tanudan and Tinglayan.
Kalinga and neighboring Apayao were created as regular provinces together by Republic Act No. 7878, signed February 14, 1995, though they did not formally begin to exist until a ratifying plebiscite passed on May 8, 1995 — both trace back to a shared 'Kalinga-Apayao' sub-province created under the same 1966 law that also created Benguet, Ifugao, and a redefined Mountain Province. Tabuk City, the capital, is a component city, so its population is fully counted within the provincial total.
Key industries: Rice (the 'rice granary of the Cordillera,' including heirloom Unoy rice varieties), Agriculture more broadly, Traditional crafts
Kalinga is home to Whang-od Oggay, the celebrated traditional tattoo artist of Buscalan, Tinglayan — multiply nominated for the GAMABA National Living Treasure award since 2017 without yet being conferred it, though she holds the separate Dangal ng Haraya Award (2018) and a Presidential Medal of Merit (2024). The same municipality was home to Macli-ing Dulag, a tribal leader who led resistance to a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Chico River in the late 1970s; his killing by soldiers on April 24, 1980 is credited with the project's eventual abandonment and is commemorated annually as Cordillera Day. The bodong, an Indigenous peace-pact governance system, remains actively used today across Kalinga's roughly 48 sub-tribes.
Key industries: Rice (the 'rice granary of the Cordillera,' including heirloom Unoy rice varieties), Agriculture more broadly, Traditional crafts
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.
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