The Philippines remains on track to bring down its fertility rate down to the 2.1-percent replacement rate in less than a decade, according to the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom).
On Thursday, Popcom Executive Director and Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III told the BusinessMirror that the replacement rate is still within reach despite the stagnation in efforts to reduce fertility rates, particularly between 1980 and 2000.
In a presentation at the National Urban Development and Housing Framework (NUDHF) webinar series on Thursday, Popcom Deputy Executive Director Lolito R. Tacardon said the total fertility rate (TFR) was reduced by 2 children between 1973 and 1993 and was only reduced by with only one child between 1993 and 2013.
“The stagnation was most prominent for the years 1980-2000 when it took 20 years for fertility to go down by 1 child. From 2008 to 2017 the decline was .6 over a 9 year period—TFR down to 2.6—which is better characterized as ‘accelerated decline’ in fertility,” Perez told the BusinessMirror.
“In another 8 years we expect the same accelerated decline to 2.1 fertility by 2025. We can achieve replacement fertility that year. Covid is a confounding factor between 2020 and 2021, which can still be overcome,” he added.
Tacardon said some poor families still consider that their children have economic value. He said children are still being “considered the labor force of the family,” a thinking that has led to the belief that having more children will make them better off in the future.
However, Perez said the attitude of rural women has already changed enough to favor family planning. This was already observed in the 2017 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS).
Perez believed that by prioritizing population and health programs, the Philippines will be able to reap the socioeconomic rewards of having a manageable population.
“The 2017 NDHS showed that family planning in rural areas caught up with urban areas. This shows a reevaluation of priorities among rural women in terms of number of desired children,” Perez said.
Based on a separate presentation at the NUDHF, Popcom Commissioner Dexter A. Galban said the country’s total population as of December 3 is 109.334 million.
This number is expected to increase to 142 million by 2045, even if the average annual population growth rate slows to 0.65 percent from the 1.7 percent, which is the average between 2010 and 2015.
To date, Region 4A has the highest population at 14.41 million followed by the National Capital Region at 12.88 million and Region 3 at 11.22 million.
Together, these three regions, Galban said, accounted for a third or 38.1 percent of the country’s population in 2015. Incidentally, these regions are also the same ones that are driving the Philippine economy.
The steady population and economic growth has led to faster urbanization nationwide. Based in 2010, the country’s urbanization rate is at 45.3 percent with Metro Manila being 100 percent urbanized.
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If we had a smaller population, there would be better quality of life and better Filipinos. There would also have been more than enough aid given during pandemics and other natural disasters. What say you people who re against family planning?