Negros Occidental

Negros Occidental (Hiligaynon: Nakatungdang Negros; Tagalog: Kanlurang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Occidental (Hiligaynon: Kapuoran sang Nakatungdang Negros; Tagalog: Lalawigan ng Kanlurang Negros), is a province in the Philippines located in the Negros Island. Its capital is the city of Bacolod, of which it is geographically situated and grouped under by the Philippine Statistics Authority, but remains politically independent from the provincial government and also one of the two regional centers in Negros Island Region (the other one is Dumaguete). It occupies the northwestern half of the large island of Negros, and borders Negros Oriental, which comprises the southeastern half. Known as the "Sugarbowl of the Philippines", Negros Occidental produces more than half the nation's sugar output.

Negros Occidental faces the island-province of Guimaras and the province of Iloilo on Panay Island to the northwest across Panay Gulf and the Guimaras Strait. The primary spoken language is Hiligaynon and the predominant religious denomination is Roman Catholicism. Bacolod is the capital, seat of government and the largest city of the province (by population), but is governed independently as a highly urbanized city. With a population of 2,623,172 inhabitants, it is the most populated province in Negros Island Region, the second most-populous province in the Visayas after Cebu and the 8th most-populous province of the Philippines. The province also has the most chartered cities among all the provinces in the Philippines with a total of 13.