High prices, uncertainties dampen intimacy–cpd

HIGH commodity prices and economic uncertainties have convinced more Filipinos to delay dating, marrying and childbearing, even before the pandemic, according to the Commission on Population Development (CPD).

In a study, CPD data showed that as early as 2017, there was already a decline in total registered live births between 2017 to 2019, the three immediate years before the pandemic.

The largest drop was in 2020, during the height of the pandemic in the Philippines. There was a slight rebound in 2022 but it remained below the pre-pandemic and lockdown.

“Our recent study supports the assumption that Filipinos, even before the Covid-19 health situation, were already keen with their mindsets of delaying life-defining events such as dating, marriages and having children,” CPD Executive Director Lisa Grace S. Bersales said.

“These preferences were reinforced by the shocks in broader socioeconomic conditions and the rise in the level of uncertainties in various aspects of the pandemic,” she added.

Based on the data, CPD said birth rates before the pandemic slowed to 1.7 million in 2017; 1.68 million in 2018; and 1.67 million in 2019.

The trend continued when birth rates hit 1.53 million in 2020 and 1.36 million in 2021. But in 2022, birth rates reached 1.46 million, higher than in 2021 but remained below the 2020 figure.

Bersales said the CPD will also monitor whether the trend has evolved to become the norm in the post-pandemic period.

Financial freedom

APART from the impact on the country’s population, HSBC Holdings Plc said this latest finding may highlight the need to think of the future more.

In a briefing on Thursday, Kai Zhang, HSBC’S head of Wealth and Personal Banking for South Asia, said that while this may reflect the reality in the Philippines, it may not be true for other countries in South and Southeast Asia.

In countries that she monitors, which also includes East Asian countries like Japan, the demographic picture is much different as average life expectancy can reach well in the 80s.

Zhang said if the retirement age is around 60 in the Philippines and life expectancy extends to 20 or 30 years after retirement, single or childless couples, should have more incentive to prepare for retirement.

This is another concern, Zhang said, as they are finding out that more and more young Asians, including Filipinos, have become successful. With their success being realized earlier, they also want to retire earlier, when they reach their 40s.

“One is that, as you say, the younger people, they’re probably delaying marriage, they’re not having children, they think that they don’t have financial burden, right?” Zhang said.

“On the other hand, I think if they want to have freedom, financial freedom, or freedom to enjoy life, as we see in younger generation, they need to actually start financial planning even earlier,” shew added.

Family duties

FINANCIAL planning, Zhang said, should also include proving support for elderly parents. The younger generation of Filipinos may decide to be childless but this does not mean they can be free from family duties.

Filipinos are family-oriented, as most Asians area. This means they are bound to extend support for elderly parents or family members.

Zhang said the financial costs of getting older will be higher in the future. This means there is a need to include this in financial planning.

“If you look at the earlier generation, which I see in the Philippines, most of them are comforted by the fact that they had quite structured retirement plans,” HSBC Philippines President and CEO Sandeep Uppal said.

“So the obligation was really on the employer. But now, in line with what’s happening overseas, it’s really on the individual. And that’s what they need to plan [for],” he stressed.

Demographic dividend

IN 2022, University of the Philippines

Demographer Michael del Mundo explained the importance of increasing the support ratio.

The support ratio refers to the number of dependents being supported by each worker. This, del Mundo said, is crucial if the country wants to reap the demographic dividend.

The number being supported by each worker takes into consideration the workers and two or more family members who are considered non-productive consumers or those who could not economically support themselves.

According to Del Mundo, the country’s support ratio is at 0.43 before the pandemic. This is below the recommended 0.5 support ratio that each country must have in order to reap the demographic dividend.

This means one effective worker is supporting 2.33 effective consumers or, simply put, a hundred effective workers in the country are supporting 233 effective consumers.

Del Mundo explained some of the non-productive consumers are those between the ages of 15 to 64 who are not earning a living. In order to reap the demographic dividend, each worker must be able to support himself or herself plus one family member.

The demographic dividend, he said, is not only about bringing fertility rates down but also ensuring that the population is able to earn, consume, save and invest.