Projecting The Philippines Population

The Philippines population is expected to double in 29 years. This is the assessment made recently by the National Statistics Office.

This pronouncement by the government agency is based on the survey conducted decennially. According to their survey results, the country is now home to 76, 504, 077 Filipinos as of May 1, 2000. This was 10.31 percent higher than the figures released in 1995. And the current number of Filipinos is also ten times the Philippines population in 1903 and this was the year when the first census was conducted in the country. On the same survey by the NSO, the expansion of the population reflected the 2.36 average growth rate of the population. This is an increase from the declining growth rate that was registered during the 1970s.

Based on the records of the government agency, the last time the country posted an increasing growth rate in Philippines population levels happened during 1948 to 1960 and the growth rate was pegged then at 3.07 percent. And the projection of the NSO that the population of the country will double in 29 years is based on the current growth rate of the population. On the same survey, it was noted that three of the most populous regions of the country are situated in mainland Luzon, and more than half of the Philippines population resides in Luzon.

Luzon is Philippines' most populated. The following is the breakdown of population into three major island groups:

. Luzon plays host to 55.97 percent of the population

. Mindanao has 23.70 percent

. Visayas has 20.30 percent of the population in the country

Luzon has seven regions, Mindanao with six regions and the Visayas has three regions. The top 10 regions in the country in terms of population distribution are as follows:

1. Southern Tagalog 15.42 percent

2. NCR 12.98 percent

3. Central Luzon 10.50 percent

4. Western Visayas 8.12 percent

5. Central Visayas 7.46 percent

6. Southern Mindanao 6.78 percent

7. Bicol 6.13 percent

8. Ilocos Region 5.49 percent

9. Eastern Visayas 4.72 percent

10. Western Mindanao 4.04 percent

Of the 16 regions in the Philippines, the Southern Luzon region is considered as the most populous. The region is home to 11,793,655 persons. The second most populous region is the National Capital Region and there are around 9,932,560 persons in Metropolitan Manila.

And together with the Region, their population constitutes 38.90 percent of the whole population of the country. In terms of growth rate, the ARMM or the Administrative Region for Muslim Mindanao is the region with the highest growth rate at 3.86 percent. This is higher than the national average which is pegged at 2.36 percent. The population of Southern Tagalog grows at a faster rate too as this grows by 3.72 percent. Central Luzon grows by 3.20 percent, Central Visayas by 2.80 percent and Southern Mindanao grows by 2.60 percent. The region with the slowest growth rate is National Capital Region which is pegged at 1.06 percent per year.

Pangasinan as Philippines' most populated province

On the same survey results by NSO, it was found out that 21 provinces in the country have population exceeding one million. And leading these 21 provinces is the province of Pangasinan which is the most populated province in the country. The province of Pangasinan is home to 2.43 million. The other provinces which followed Pangasinan in terms of population include the provinces of Cebu, Bulacan, Negros Occidental and Cavite. These provinces have population that surpassed the two millionth mark. The four smallest provinces in the country in terms of population are Batanes, Camiguin, Siquijor and Apayao.

If the highly urbanized cities in the country are to be observed, Quezon City ranks first in terms of population size. Quezon City is home to 2.17 Filipinos and this city is followed by Manila and then Caloocan. Outside the National Capital Region, the city of Davao also broke the 1 millionth -mark with its 1.15 million Filipinos. Half of the Philippines population is below 21 years old and this is also the median age of the population. What this meant is that half of the populations were below the age of 21 years old. By sex, male slightly outnumbers their female counterparts.