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THE
Philippine population continued to increase and is now
pegged at 88.57 million based on the 2007 Census of
Population conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO),
the President said Wednesday.
In
Proclamation 1489, or the Declaration as Official the
2007 Population Count of the
Philippines
by Province, City, Municipality and Barangay as Obtained
from the 2007 Census of Population Conducted by the NSO,
the President said there are 88,574,614 Filipinos as of
August 1, 2007, when the survey was conducted.
Acting
Director General Augusto Santos of the National Economic
and Development Authority (Neda) said that while the
actual number of Filipinos was less than the NSO
projection of 90.4 million, the growth rate was slightly
higher at 2.04 percent from the annual target of 1.95
percent from 2005 to 2010.
The
population count was also higher than in the last 2000
Census of Population, which was at 76.50 million and
represented a growth of 2.36 percent a year.
However,
with the release of the official population count,
Santos said the government remains confident its
population-management policies are doing well and that
there are no plans of changing them.
Santos
said the policies that seek to promote responsible
parenting and the use of natural family-planning methods
are “somehow taking effect.”
“In a
sense, the population was close to the target and lower
than the previous decade,” Santos told reporters.
Santos
said the population grew by 3.01 percent a year between
1960 and 1970; 2.75 percent a year between 1970 and
1980; and 2.34 percent a year between 1990 and 2000.
He noted
that the target growth rate of 1.95 percent a year and
the actual growth rate of 2.04 percent in 2007 showed a
difference of around 0.1 percent, which is equivalent to
the addition of 80,000 Filipino babies born every year.
Santos
said the country compares well with its counterparts in
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in terms of
population growth. The population of Malaysia grows by
2.1 percent a year; Vietnam, 1.4 percent; Indonesia, 1.3
percent; and Thailand, 0.8 percent.
Among
these countries,
Malaysia
is the only one which aims to increase its population in
aid of development. Santos said the Malaysian government
adopted this population policy since its previous
population was less than 20 million.
In the
2000 Census of Population, the NSO said more than half,
or 55.97 percent, of the 76.5 million total population
resided in Luzon. It was followed by Mindanao with 23.70
percent and the Visayas with 20.30 percent.
Of the
16 regions comprising the Philippine archipelago,
Southern Tagalog was the biggest in terms of population
size. Southern Tagalog registered a total population of
11,793,655 persons, accounting for 15.42 percent of the
Philippine population.
The
National Capital Region followed with 9,932,560 persons,
or 12.98 percent of the total population. Central Luzon
(Region 3) registered the third largest population with
8,030,945 persons or 10.50 percent of the total
population. These three regions combined comprised 38.90
percent of the total population. |
