Lockdown babies seen to reach 250,000

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine population is expected to reach 110.8 million in 2021, up from 109.4 million in 2020, the Commission on Population (PopCom) said yesterday.

The figure does not include some 250,000 babies projected by the University of the Philippines-Population Institute (UPPI) to be born due to the community quarantine imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III, the UPPI’s projection showed there will be up to 750,000 new births next year related to the quarantine.

“However, we think since the general community quarantine (GCQ) is affecting only one-third of the country, we believe…about 250,000 might be added to our crude birth rate,” he noted at a press briefing.

But when the UPPI’s 750,000 projection happens, the country’s population will reach 111 million next year.

Perez added that such increase was brought about by disruptions in the delivery of family planning services due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aside from this, couples were perceived to have more time for intimacy during the quarantine when they mostly stayed at home.

Perez, however, underscored that despite the rise in population, Filipino family size is “growing smaller” from five members to four.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Administration show the country’s population growth rate will grow by 1.31 percent next year. This is lower than the 1.68 percent growth rate in 2016.

“We have seen a significant decline. This is because Filipinos are choosing to have smaller family, fewer children and therefore fertility is slowly declining,” he said.

Among population groups, the most notable increase was observed within working-age Filipinos between 15 to 64 years old, which will increase by just over one million from 2020 and reach 71,278,520 by next year.

This will make up some 64.15 percent of the entire Philippine population.

Broken down by sex, in the working age group there will be more males than females, 36,139,866 to 35,138,630.

The official claimed this implies the need for the country to generate at least half a million new jobs next year.

According to Perez, this is a “huge challenge in the midst of the pandemic.”

“The changing age structure of the country’s population due to the increase in the working-age population indicates demographic precondition for greater productivity given its potential to support the dependent population,” Perez added.