‘Demographic dividend’
Whereas in the 1970s, families had six kids on average, today the number has fallen to one or two per Filipino mom.
Daily TribuneWhereas in the 1970s, families had six kids on average, today the number has fallen to one or two per Filipino mom.
A piece of bread in the grubby hands of a child loitering along a busy street may leave a lasting impression on anyone who cares about the future.
The world reached a record eight billion humans as of 15 November 2022, according to the United Nations — "more than three times higher" than in 1950, which had 2.5 billion, a report said.
Consider eight billion people (and growing) in a world with melting ice caps and deforestation. Children today are going to grow up in a vastly changed world compared to previous generations. They will have limited natural resources, dirtier air and water, and bouts with new-age diseases much like Covid-19.
Nothing could have prepared the world for the shock of sudden illness and deaths in the pandemic, gripping paranoia about social routines, and the knowledge that people do need one another, especially on a planet imbalanced in its natural resources.
It all boils down to food, health, and shelter. People need them, and governments know this. We can expect to encounter more territorial disputes and pandemic effects.
Nowadays, the population boom is a hot topic. In our case, however, the story has been about the decline — in life expectancy and fertility rate.
Whereas in the 1970s, families had six kids on average, today the number has fallen to one or two per Filipino mom.
The latest national health demographic survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority revealed that the "birthrate among Filipino mothers aged 15 to 49 fell to 1.9 children this year, a decrease from 2.7 children in 2017," a report on The Diplomat says.
This is noted as "the sharpest ever recorded" recently by Lolito Tacardon, executive director of the Commission on Population and Development or PopCom.
He attributed this to "various factors, including women's empowerment and the easier access of Filipinos to family planning and birth control."
Tacardon also noted in the same article, "The Philippines remarkably now has the third lowest fertility rate in Southeast Asia after Singapore (1.1 children per woman) and Thailand (1.5)."
So, on one hand, we have families shrinking in number — a plus for socioeconomic development, experts say — and, on the other, we have life expectancy getting shorter.
A World Bank study in 2020 revealed that the average life expectancy of Filipinos is 71. The average for males is 67, and for females, 76. We are far below Hong Kong and Japan with an average lifespan of 85.
We can blame stress for the earlier deaths, and in recent years, Covid-19, but what this means is that the country can now start to reap what is called a "demographic dividend," in which an emerging economy like ours grows because of the change in population structure.
Sharp declines in mortality and fertility rates result "in the shrinking of the dependent age (0-14) group and expanding of the workforce (ages 15-64)," according to our National Economic and Development Agency in an explainer published in December 2018. "This transition leads to steadily rising savings and investment rates and, hence, faster economic growth and improved living standards."
NEDA said our government has prepared for this transition, the Philippines being among the last in the Asian region to reach this demographic leverage. We do have laws and reform programs in place to ensure a productive population, but all will be for naught without proper implementation, as well as a concerted effort between private and public sectors.