MindanaoToday.com | Married women don’t want to have more kids
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The population of Northern Mindanao is growing, but the average annual growth rate in five-year census has slowed down to 1.46 percent in the 2015-2020 period from 1.68 percent in the 2010-2015 figures, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
PSA attributed the downtrend in population growth rates to the “rapid decline in fertility rates” in the past three decades to 1.9 in 2022 from 4.1 in 1993 per 1,000 population of married women who were at least 15 years old.
Results of the National Demographic and Household Survey (NDHS) PSA conducted in 2022 confirmed the decreasing fertility rates as 48.8 percent of the respondents, composed of married women in 15 to 49 child-bearing ages, do not want more children.
In Northern Mindanao, fertility rate was 2.1 in 2022 from 3.1 five years earlier.
These survey findings were at the crux of discussions in a “Kapihan sa PIA” forum on Wednesday, February 28, at the Limketkai Center in Cagayan de Oro in time for the 55th Anniversary of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD).
Neil Aldrin Omega, director of CDP in Northern Mindanao, said, “these trends nevertheless have resulted in a change in age structure of the population, marked by a decline in the proportion of children under five years old.
But Omega still see many school-aged children in the next 15 years, still expecting those at working age 15 to 64-year old population (15-64) increasing along with the older population 65 and over. He said the increase in the number of the working age population is the outcome of a long period of population growth, yet he expects a “demographic bonus” or “dividend” because of the slowing down of the population growth.
Demographic dividend, he said, means better educated population who make decisions and take actions on improving the quality of their lives, such as having gainful employment, healthy environment and access to social services. It also means healthier population and this would be indicated by declining mortality rate and an increasing lifespan.
Omega said the 2020 Philippine Human Development Report (HDR) mentioned of an improved life expectancy among Filipinos at birth, registering 71.4 years in 2020, which was about five years longer than their 1990’s expected lifespan.
“The maximum utilization of these human resources provides a potential for higher productivity and contributes to economic growth,” said the CPD Region 10 head.
As of May 1, 2020, the population of Northern Mindanao was estimated by PSA in its Census of Population and Housing (CPH) was 5,022,768 which was 725,445 higher than the 2010 population of over 4.3 million. PSA conducts its CPH every 10 years. (MT)
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