As of May 1, 2020, the Philippine population increased to 109,035,343 or 8 million more since 2015. According to the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom), The population has a growth rate of 1.63%. In reality, we are probably more than 110 million by now,” said Popcom USec. Juan Antonio Perez III.
The highest population with 16,195,042 is Region 4-A, followed by the National Capital Region with 13,484,462; and Region 3 with 12, 422,172. The combination of these regions consisted of 38.6% of the entire population in 2020. The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao had the highest growth rate with 3.265%, with Region 7 at 1.88% and Region 4-A with 2.48%. Region 8 had the lowest growth rate at 0.5%. These numbers of regions are important to note, considering the country is under various levels of quarantine, Perez added.
Filipino women are expected to have around 3 children during their childbearing years. Compared to 2015 the country’s population increased by 1.63 percent, the rate of the increase is slowing down. POPCOM said a 1 percent growth rate would be more “comfortable”. “We don’t want a zero population growth, What we want is the growth of the population based on our capacity to support the population,” Perez said.
