Philippine Population

Three Babies Every Minute
Three babies are born in the Philippines every minute, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO). The NSO arrived at this number based on the 1.669 million live births recorded for the year 2003. The data were obtained from birth certificates registered at the Local Civil Registry Office (LCRO).

It said that the 2003 figure was up slightly by 0.2 percent from 1.667 million live births recorded in 2002. "In 2003, the daily occurrence of births was 4,574 or 190 babies born every hour or 3 babies per minute," the statistics office said. Results of the survey also showed that more male babies were actually born than female babies. Of the total newly born babies, 868,749 were male while 800,693 were female.

Despite the slowing fertility rate, the survey indicates that some women were getting sexually active early, with young adult mothers (15 to 24 years old) delivering a third or 595,427 of the total births. Teenage mothers contributed 123,865 births or 7.4 percent of the total. About 756 mothers delivered their first-born at age below 15. .

Weddings in the Philippines
The National Statistics Office (NSO) has dispelled widely held beliefs that Catholic priests administer most weddings in the country during the month of June. Most likely, weddings take place in May, and in front of a judge or a politician. The NSO based the data on marriages officiated by priests, pastors, judges, mayors and others who are authorized by law to solemnize marriage in the year 2003.

It said that that 2,051 marriages took place each day in December; 2,042 in January; and only 1,920 in June. August was the least month of choice for wedding vows, with a daily average of only 1,033 marriages. A total of 593,553 marriages was recorded in 2003, up by 1.8 percent from 583,167 marriages registered in 2002.

Of the total marriages, 41.3 percent or more than two out of five were contracted through civil rites. In comparison, marriages under Roman Catholic church was ranked second with 220,393 or 37.1 percent.
The rest were solemnized under Islam (0.2 percent), tribal rites (0.2 percent) and other religious rites, (21.3 percent).

Results of the study also showed that about four out of ten brides got married at the age of 20-24 years old while nearly one out of three grooms married at the age group 25-29 years old. The median age at marriage was 25 for brides and 27 for grooms. There were 80,085 teenage brides (under 20 years old), representing 13.5 percent of the total, who got married in 2003, more than four times the 19,829 teenage grooms.

Of the total, some 13,497 or 2.3 percent Filipino brides tied knot with foreigner grooms while 3,598 Filipino grooms married foreigner brides.
Among foreign nationals, the most number of intermarriages involved Filipino brides with Japanese grooms (5,468). Other foreign nationals that were married to Filipino brides were the Americans, numbering 3,002; Australians, 569; Chinese, 393; Germans, 205; Spanish, 124; and other foreign nationals, 3,519. On the other hand, the highest number of intermarriages involving Filipino grooms were with Chinese brides (1,999) followed by Americans (514), Japanese (155), Spanish (129) and Australians bride (111).

Richest Towns
The Chinese district of Binondo in Manila and the town of San Juan have the least percentage of poor people in the country, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB). Meanwhile, nearly nine out of ten residents of the towns of Hadji Panglima Tahil in Sulu and Bulalacao in Oriental Mindoro are living in poverty.

In its project-based poverty estimates for all the 1,623 cities and municipalities in the country based on 2000 data, the NSCB said 40 of these areas have poverty rates above 74 percent of their respective population.

The study showed that Binondo, a part of the city of Manila which was counted as a municipality, has the lowest poverty incidence of 2.74 percent. It was followed closely by San Juan, with 2.92 percent.

Meanwhile, Makati City is regarded as the city with the lowest poverty incidence of 3.74 percent, which was comparable with the situation in other progressive cities in Asia and Europe.

The cities of Pasig and Marikina have poverty rates of 5.33 percent and 5.52 percent, respectively. Outside Metro Manila, the industrial town of Imus recorded the lowest poverty incidence of 3.17 percent, followed by Noveleta, another municipality in Cavite, with 4.93 percent. Other towns with poverty incidence below 10 percent were Bacoor also in Cavite with 6.51 percent; Cabuyao in Laguna, with 6.94 percent; the Rizal towns of Angono and Cainta with 7.01 percent and 7.72 percent respectively; Marilao in Bulacan with 8.62 percent; and Basco in Batanese with 9.66 percent.

The city of Sta. Rosa in Laguna, which is home to various industrial parks, has the lowest poverty rate of 5.62 percent among all cities outside Metro Manila. It was followed by Baguio City, with 6.73 percent, Vigan City with 8.55 percent, and Bacolod City with 9.12 percent.

Meanwhile, the NSCB said majority of the municipalities that were considered poor in 2000 were in Mindanao, particularly in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.