Filipino women are having fewer children, according to the Commission on Population and Development (CPD). In a media forum hosted by the Department of Health, CPD Executive Director Lolito Tacardon attributed the decline to their improving socio-economic status.

“They found that based on data from the National Demographic and Health Survey, the significant factor or driver of fertility decline is the improvement in socio-economic status,” Tacardon said.

Tacardon pointed out that young women today are more interested in achieving life and career goals, as well as becoming “fur parents” instead. “They have other interests that emerge, other than family-forming.”

“So as their education improves and their socio-economic standing rises, their fertility preference decreases,” he said.

Tacardon also attributed the trend to the Covid-19 pandemic. “It seems the uncertainty of the pandemic caused couples to delay pregnancy,” he noted.

Other factors include changing patterns of marriage, increasing contraceptive use, declining desire for having children, and improvements in child health and survival.