PH marks drop in fertility rates

THE Philippines recorded unprecedented population statistics unheard of in years, with fertility numbers plummeting to less than two offspring per woman, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

This was revealed during the PSA National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2022 Dissemination Forum announced that the total fertility rate (TFR) of Filipino women 15 to 49 years old now stands at 1.9 children, from 2.7 children in 2017.

With the figure, the NDHS divulged that the country is already within the replacement fertility level of 2.1 children, or the fertility rate at which women give birth to enough babies to sustain population levels.

The survey also disclosed that the Philippines’ TFR has been on a downward trend since the 1970s, which was at 6 children per woman. However, the decline from 2017 to 2022 was the sharpest ever recorded.

The same survey revealed that 1 in 2 currently married women said they no longer desire more children, while 17 percent want to delay their next childbirths for 2 or more years.

Demographic transition, opportunity: Commission on Population and Development Officer In Charge-Executive Director Lolito Tacardon said that the significant decline in the total fertility rate offers both an opportunity, as well as a challenge: “On one hand, this can be considered as a ‘breakthrough’ for the country’s programs on population and development as well as family planning, which were instituted more than five decades ago.”

Tacardon further noted: “The Philippines’ latest TFR is now comparable to those of upper-middle-income countries’ 1.8 children and Thailand at 1.5 children. In the Asean region, the Philippines has now the third-lowest after Singapore’s 1.1 children. It is lower than the Asian average of 2.2 and is comparable to Latin America’s and the Caribbean’s, which is at 2.0 children. The Philippines, however, has lower fertility levels than Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia.”