Thailand
Philippines population growth slows down
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has lowered its population growth to 1.5 percent in line with its human development goals, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.
Speaking during the recently held celebration of World Population Day, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said that while the number of Filipinos continue to rise, the growth in population has declined to 1.5 percent per annum since the 2015 census.
Under this growth rate, the domestic population is now placed at 108.1 million and is expected to double in 39 years.
“On the policy side, I am happy to mention that many plans and policies have been passed and set in place,” he said. “This is mostly thanks to the strong political will of our leaders to reduce poverty and inequality through population and development interventions.”
These, he said, include the Philippine Population Management Program and the passage of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law in 2012.
The occasion marked the country’s 25th year of cooperation with the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) of the United Nations that adopted a plan of action to address poverty, gender inequality, and health issues in relation to population management.
Pernia told UN representatives and government officials that the country’s total fertility rate has likewise gone down over time to 2.1 children per woman of reproductive age in 2019 from 6.4 children per woman in 1969.
“Our target fertility rate is 2.1 children. This will be feasible if we can ratchet up modern contraceptive use. This had gone up from 24.9 percent in 1993 to 40 percent in 2017. Fortunately, there are now more users of modern contraceptives. There are also now more rural than urban women who use modern family planning methods,” said Pernia.
He also said the country is also now among the most successful in the world in terms of successfully reducing the gender gap.
“Based on the latest Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum, the Philippines notably remains one of the most gender-equal countries in Asia. The report says we are now eight among 149 countries in terms of successfully reducing the gender gap. This is something we can be proud of,” said Pernia.
Other than population management, Pernia said the country is focused on pursuing measures needed to attain demographic dividend among which is developing human capital to its full potential.In terms of health, the government recently enacted the Universal Health Care Law, which automatically enrolls all citizens into the National Health Insurance Program and expands health insurance coverage to include free medical consultations and laboratory tests including tests for family planning users.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/07/15/1934673/philippines-population-growth-slows-down#zaluMgWT6xlVEYFM.99