Philippine Information Agency Mega Manila, as a loose metropolitan area defined by the
Philippine Information Agency (PIA), is divided into the National Capital Region (
Metro Manila) and the suburbs of
Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and
Mimaropa. Mega Manila's 2015 population was projected at 40,368,979 or 40% of the country's population, and covers roughly half of Luzon, with an area of 52,097.66 square kilometers, including many rural areas.
National Economic and Development Authority The
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) defines Mega Manila as Metro Manila and the surrounding specific provinces of
Bulacan,
Rizal,
Cavite, and
Laguna, especially on its study "Roadmap for Transport Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila and its Surrounding Areas (Region III and Region IV-A)". Notably, these collection of areas is also known as the
Greater Manila Area. Meanwhile, the NEDA study, which is a collaboration with the
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), considers Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon as the
Greater Capital Region (GCR). for their
TV ratings gathering (area highlighted in blue on the map), a much stricter definition than the PIA. Using census population in 2010 the area has a population of 25,066,000 or about 26.6% of the population in an area roughly the size of
Los Angeles County and average density over 2000 people per square kilometer. As a comparison, only the cities of
Tokyo,
Jakarta, and
Mexico City have reached 25 million people,
Shanghai may have but there is not enough detail in suburban statistics on it. Both Mega Manila definitions only include entire provinces, without finer detail. This Nielsen defined area has a higher ownership of televisions per household anywhere in the country due to its relative economic prosperity as compared to other areas in the country. Radio ratings agency Radio Research Council (provided by
KBP) also provide measurement of audience ratings. The stricter Nielsen definition closer reflects the built-up area surrounding Manila than the PIA definition, Yet even the Nielsen definition of Mega Manila cannot be merely equated to the built-up area; the Nielsen definition includes significant undeveloped forested areas, while completely excluding contiguous developed settlements in such places like northern
Batangas. Thus the academic definition as used for
urban studies for built-up area surrounding Manila requires yet another term (e.g.
Greater Manila Area) to disambiguate from the already used terms
Mega Manila and
Metro Manila. ==Economy==