By Gabriela Baron
The country’s fertility rate declined this year, according to a poll conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Based on the 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), the total fertility rate of Filipino women aged 15 to 49 dropped from 2.7 children per woman in 2017 to 1.9 children per woman in 2022.
“The Philippines is already below the replacement fertility level of 2.1 children per woman,” PSA noted in its survey released Nov. 13.
PSA also found that women living in rural areas had a “slightly higher” total fertility rate of 2.2 children per woman compared to women living in urban areas with 1.7 per woman.
“Generally, the fertility has been declining in all age groups since 2008, except in the younger and older women aged 15 to 19 and 45 to 49 years, respectively,” PSA added.
“Specifically, fertility rates for women aged 20 to 24 years steadily declined from 163 births per 1,000 women in 2008 to 84 births per 1,000 women in 2022.”
PSA said the observation was also seen in women aged 25 to 44 years. -ag
