Around 7 girls aged 14 below give birth in PH every day – PopCom

Commission on Population (PopCom) reported that around seven Filipino girls aged 14 and below give birth in the Philippines every day.

PopCom said the number of births among girls 14 and younger increased by seven percent in 2019 compared with 2018’s figures given by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

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“In 2019, 2,411 girls considered as very young adolescents aged 10 to 14 gave birth,” PopCom said.

This number translates to almost seven births daily, a 300% increase from 2000 when only 755 from this age group gave birth, the Commission added.

It stressed out that the Philippines, for the ninth year, recorded a continuous increase in teenage pregnancies since 2011.

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Calabarzon recorded the highest number of births among children with 8,008, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila) with 7,546, and Central Luzon with 7,523.

Meanwhile, teenage pregnancies were also high in Northern Mindanao (4,747), Davao (4,551), and Central Visayas (4,541). In total, the number of children who gave birth in 2019 increased to 62,510 compared to 62,341 in 2018.

According to PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III, the government prioritizes decreasing the teenage pregnancy rate in the Philippines.

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He said PopCom and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) plan to launch a social protection project for teenage mothers this year.

Philippine population to reach 110.8 million in 2021 – PopCom

The Philippine population is expected to reach 110.8 million by the end of 2021, the Commission on Population and Development said last month.

It said it could further grow due to unplanned pregnancies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to PopCom Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III, this 2021 population projection is higher than the previous 109.4 million at the onset of 2020.

Perez noted that the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) also projected up to 750,000 “quarantine babies” would be born this year.

“However, since the GCQ (general community quarantine) is affecting only around one-third of the country, we believe about 250,000 might be added to our crude birth rate that would bring our population to 111.1 million,” Perez said.

Despite the projected increase in the population, Perez said the PopCom is expecting Filipino families “to grow smaller to only four to five members per family.”