The Cebu Metropolitan Area or Metro Cebu is the main urban center of the island province of Cebu. The center is Cebu City, the oldest Spanish settlement in the Philippines. Metro Cebu is located along the central eastern portion of the island including the nearby island of Mactan. It accounts for 20 percent of the land area and 57.5 percent of the population (2000 census) of the entire province of Cebu.Metro Cebu is a metropolitan area that is centered on Cebu City, the capital of Cebu and the regional capital of Central Visayas with twelve surrounding cities and municipalities. Metro Cebu is one of the officially defined metropolitan areas in the Philippines, the other being Metro Manila.
Metropolitan Cebu was conceptualized by government planners in the 1970's and was based on experiences of urban planning in Metro Manila. Metro Cebu represented the province's thriving urban centers that are physically proximate to Cebu City which is the leading commercial and financial hub in the Visayas and northern Mindanao areas with a population largely dependent on the economic opportunities prevailing in the area.