Population in PH to reach 107M – PopCom

FILE: Street scene near Plaza Roma along A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila (Photo By Patrickroque01 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Commission on Population (PopCom) estimated the population in the country to balloon to 107 million.

Using a geometric method based on the projections by Philippine Statistics Authority’s latest census in 2015, PopCom estimated the population to grow to 107,190,081 from 105,377,586 in 2017.

According to PopCom Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III, “Based on the above projections, the Philippine population will increase by 1.8 million by the end of 2018, growing at a rate of 1.69% annually.”

“That means we will be adding 4,965 Fillipinos per day, or 206 every hour in 2018,” he added.

PopCom estimated that 15-49 year-old-Filipinas capable of reproducing, will increase to 27,713,110 – an over 400,000 addition compared to last year.

However, the increasing cases of teenage pregnancy can cause this figure to go even more up to 33,114,606.

According to the Commission, the population of 10-19-year-old girls is expected to increase to 10,697,289. The group of ages 15 to 64 is also expected to increase from 63.72% to 63.88%.

“This means that there will be an increasing workforce and older person, as well as decreasing population under 14. This leads to fewer children being born,” Perez further said.

By the end 2018, those above 60 years old are expected to be up to 8,013,059.

Meanwhile, Perez clarified that the temporary restraining order of the Supreme Court on contraceptives has no direct impact on the population this year.

“The direct impact will be on the availability of almost 400,000 implants for the program. The other effect will be on the procurement of pills, now deficient or out of stock but will not happen until next year,” he said.

Perez said that citizens can use implants for those pills with licenses that have expired or are not yet available.

(Read: DOH Contraceptive stocks to expire on 2018 – PopCom)

“That’s what we’re pushing now – that they be used before they expire – late this year to early 2019,” he added.