The Philippine Statistics Authority is seeing a steady downward trend of the country’s population growth rate which could benefit the country and the economy in a variety of ways.
WITH a growing trend of “smaller families” and more young people putting off marriage, the Philippines’ population growth is on a “downward” trend, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Citing results of the 2020 Census of Population and Housing, PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Dennis Mapa said the country’s population growth slowed down, from 1.72 percent recorded in its 2015 census to 1.63 percent in 2020.
“The trend is actually going down so one of the reasons of course is the preference of many families for smaller family size,” Mapa said during a recent press briefing.
“But this is not unique, this 2015-2020 (census), because we are seeing a downtrend in terms of population growth several censuses already,” he added.
The 2020 census has fixed the country’s total population at 109,035,343, up by over 8 million from 100,981,437 in 2015.
Mapa identified the most populous regions in 2000 as Region 4-A (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) with a population of 16,195,042; National Capital Region (NCR) -13,484,462; and Region 3 (Central Luzon) -12,422,172.
“The population in Calabarzon, NCR and Central Luzon is 38.61 percent of the total population of the Philippines. Four out of 10 Filipinos live in these regions,” he added in Filipino.
Mapa said Batanes has the smallest population with 18,831 people, while Camiguin is another province with a small population of 92,808.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the slower population growth is consistent with the increase in the income of the people and the country.
Chua said it is important that population growth is supported by improving services for the people so they become productive and boost human capital.
“(So) there is really no ideal population growth in my opinion. What is important is we are able to provide the basic services to the people to allow them to be healthy so that they can finish school and they have a good job, and improve the productivity of the country,” he added in the same briefing.
Chua said they will be evaluating some of the government programs, including the productive health, to determine whether these are showing progress in line with census results. (ONT)
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