Land Area and Population
The provincial territory covers a land area of 5, 368.2 square kilometers. Almost all of its 1975 population
of 1, 520, 085 are native born, with the non-native born comprising only 0.1. The fourth most populous province in the
1970 Census, Pangasinan then had a population count of 1,386, 143. The males are slightly outnumbered by the females,
with a ratio of 98 males for every 100 females.
People
The people of Pangasinan are predominantly Roman Catholics, 932, 804 or 84.1 percent of them belonging to the
Roman Catholics Church. The remaining percent profess some other religions
Etymology
The term pangasinan means "land of salt" or "place where salt is made" from
the root word asin meaning salt in the native language, and the prefix pang and the suffix an meaning place. The term
was derived from one of the main occupations of the people in the coastal villages which was, and still is, that of making
salt from sea water through the process of solar evaporation in well-laid-out salt beds. But the salt from Pangasinan
is more widely known as the "place of salt."
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