Unwanted pregnancy major cause of ballooning population in Caraga

BUTUAN CITY – Unwanted pregnancy and teenage childbearing are among the factors to the growing population in Caraga region, a top official of the Commission on Population (PopCom) yesterday said.

PopCom 13 Regional Director Alexander A. Makinano said low contraceptive use was among the top reasons for the ballooning population in this region.

He said Caraga Region has an estimated population of 2.7 million in 2015.

“This is just a portion of the country’s population that it is expected to rise to 104 million this year,” he said.

“The effects of this population increase will become more evident for there will be lack of decent jobs, shortage of food and water supplies, overcrowded community, increased number of urban migrants and these results affect to the development of the locality,” Makinano emphasized.

The region’s top PopCom official also cited that failure to attain the desired family size, which is at two to three children per family, as one of the results of the increasing the number of unwanted pregnancy,

He explained that even if levels of childbearing declined, the populace would continue to grow, as population momentum represents natural increase of population.

Makinano elaborated that in Butuan City, alone, urban congestion has become apparent nowadays due to the increasing number of people living in the city. “Consequently, public schools and health facilities are overloaded, numbers of unemployed increased and more farm lands converted into commercial,” he added.