Are Contraceptives a Good Solution? Philippines’ Population Growth Slowed Down

30 May Are Contraceptives a Good Solution? Philippines’ Population Growth Slowed Down

The use of contraception in the country has been increased in the past year, generating results that slowed the growth of the population in the country. Do the contraceptives live up to its expectation to counter the ballooning population of the country?

Based on the Commission on Population, the current growth rate in the country today is at 1.72%. Before that, the previous census was on 2010 having a population growth rate of 1.9%.

One of the reasons that must have affected the growth is the use of contraception.

Based on the record by the United Nations, the Philippines ranked 12th in the most populous country in the world.

The current population in the Philippines is now at 100.98 million and expected to rise up to 103.48 million by the end of 2016 according to Commission on Population Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III.

The use of contraceptives among couples has been increased by 7% from 2013 to 2014. It was previously recorded at 38%, now it is as high as 45%.

“We have noted an increase in the use of modern contraceptives between 2013 onwards,” Perez said.

It was in 2012 where a national law that provides government funding for contraceptives started. Finally, the law has been approved by the Supreme Court on 2014 that it was constitutional except for a few provisions.

Based on the results, there were discrepancies among socio-economic classes. Those who are in the poorer class have five or more children by average while those who are in the richer class have one or two children.

“We also noted in the census that it is the poorer regions of the country out of Manila which have higher fertility and we presume large numbers of the poor are in those regions,” said Perez.

This is why that aside from having contraceptives, the choice to have fewer children by the people is also a factor of this reduced population growth in the Philippines in the recent years.

With this slow growth, it is expected that the population of the country today will double for the next 40 years. It was previously predicted at 38 years, but the recent developments have made it 2 more years longer. This will give more time for the Philippines to apply the family planning and birth control methods that have not yet been properly implemented in the past few years.