Parents attend to their babies as they wait for the inoculation during the Department of Health's launch of Vax-Baby-Vax, a 10-day Intensive Routine Catch-up Immunization program, which aims to catch-up in the delay or lack of vaccine among infants because of COVID-19 restrictions the past 2 years, at the Lakeshore in Taguig City on Nov. 7, 2022. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — The Philippines is ranked as the world’s 13th most populous country with the number of Filipinos expected to hit the 115-million mark by the end of 2023, the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) said on Monday.
As of the Philippines’ last census in 2020, the country’s population stands at more than 109 million, with a 1.6 percent annual population growth, said POPCOM officer in charge Lolito Tacardon.
“Ang Pilipinas ang 13th most populous country around the world at 7th in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
Majority of Filipinos now are considered part of the working age population, which is between 15 and 64 years old, he said.
“Malaki po ang chance natin na ma-accelerate ang ating economic development,” Tacardon said, noting that the number of Filipinos considered as part of the dependent ages of 0 to 14 years old has decreased over the past few years.
The total fertility rate or average number of children that are born to a woman is 2, Tacardon said.
“If manageable po yung bilang ng anak ng bawat pamilya, magkakaroon ng mas malaking investment para sa kanilang kalusugan, pag-aaral at other needs,” he said.
While the Philippines’ demographics has been “steady” in the past decades, the government has seen an increase in the number of teenage pregnancies in the country, Tacardon said.
“Pabata nang pabata na teenage pregnancy… Among 0-14 years old, dumadami yung bilang ng mas maagang nabubuntis,” he said.
Factors that contributed to the teenage pregnancy problem in the country included the “lack of information among young people” and a possible increase in statutory rape cases, he said.
The government continues its information dissemination campaign against teenage pregnancy both in schools and in communities, the POPCOM official said.
The government is also crafting several programs for the country’s “steadily growing older population” which now accounts for 5.4 percent of the total number of living Filipinos, he said.