Southern Leyte (Cebuano: Habagatang Leyte, Filipino: Timog Leyte) is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Maasin. Southern Leyte was a sub-province of Leyte until it was made into an independent province. Southern Leyte includes Limasawa, an island to the south where the first Roman Catholic Mass was held and considered to be the birthplace of Roman Catholicism in the Philippines. The province ranks as the second least populated in the region. According to the , the province has a population of .