The Philippines are located southeast of Asia as the archipelago betweeen the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea, aslo east of Vietnam.  It is a tropical marine and has northeast monsoons from November to April and southeast monsoons from May to October.  Population in the Philippines is an estimated 89,468,677 on July 2006.  The birth rate is an estimated 24.89 births per 1000 population and the death rate is 5.41 deaths per 1000 population is 2006.  The growth rate is an estimated 1.8%.  The predominant religion is Roman Catholic.