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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Friday, January 6, 2017
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ILOILO City – Western Visayas’ population is ballooning and sexually active teenagers are among the contributing factors, according to the Commission on Population (PopCom) Region 6.
Western Visayas’ population as of 2015 stood at 7,536,383 – the count included Negros Occidental and Bacolod City – with a 1.14 population growth rate.
By the end of 2017, the region’s population projection would be 36,879 higher, said Roilo Vincent Laguna, PopCom-6 information officer.
One of the factors seen contributing to the increase is the high incidence of teenage pregnancy.
As of 2015, 23 of every 1,000 live births were from teenage pregnancies (mothers between 10 to 19 years old), said Laguna.
Also, at 3.8 percent, Western Visayas is one of the three regions in the country with the highest fertility rate, the National Demographic and Health Survey showed.
This means “women of reproductive age” are giving birth to three to four children, said Laguna.
Women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years old) in the region, as of 2010, were at 1,750,121, PopCom-6 data showed.
With the projected increase in population, Laguna said, PopCom-6 is stepping up its responsible parenthood campaign.
The agency will be holding more family planning classes in barangays in coordination with local population offices.
Laguna said PopCom-6 is also partnering with civil society organization such as the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines. But he clarified the Department of Health is the agency rendering family planning and other related services.
Aside from Western Visayas, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Bicol also have high fertility rates (4.1 and 4.2, respectively), according to Executive Director Juan Perez III of PopCom.
Meanwhile, based on the projections of PopCom using the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the country’s population will continue to increase in 2017 and may reach 105,758,850 by Dec. 31.
According to the state-run Philippine News Agency, included in the country’s population growth projection are 27,293,422 women of reproductive age.
Also, adolescent girls 10 to 19 years old will also increase to 10,080,824 this year.
Based on the most recent data from the PSA (2014), over 200,000 adolescent girls will give birth in 2017.
The figures on women of reproductive age and adolescent girls continue to be the highest on record. This trend is expected to continue up to 2022 when the number of women of reproductive age is expected to peak at 29.1 million and adolescent girls at 11.3 million.
“The continuing increase in population is due to the relatively high fertility rates of Filipino women which is three children on average; however, 11 of the 17 regions show higher fertility rates than the national average,” according to the report.
Other population trends being tracked by PopCom for 2017 are the number of schoolchildren (expected to rise to 31.5 million), labor force (66.7 million) and population over 65 years old (5.2 million).
Based on the number of births in 2014 reported by PSA, there were 3.33 Filipinos born every minute that year. More males than females were born with 1.02 males born for every female.
PSA projected 1,691,897 births this year, with the number of Filipinos born per minute going down to 3.22 births per minute next year. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
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