THE government, through the Commission on Population Development (CPD), has expressed alarm over declining population growth in several rural provinces across the country.
In fact, several of the nation’s rural provinces have already registered negative population growth rates, according to the CPD.
Citing data from the 2024 Census of Population, CPD Deputy Executive Director Lolito Tacordan noted the emerging issues of rapid urbanization and the depopulation of rural areas.
Tacorda, who made the statement during the CPD’s 57 anniversary in Manila last Thursday, also noted that the number of people living in urban areas “continues to rise.”
Aside from the Bicol Region, 13 provinces, including Marinduque, Romblon, Mt. Province and Zamboanga del Norte in Mindanao, posted a slowdown in the Annual Population Growth Rate (PGR).
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also showed that the rate at which the country’s population grew from 2020-2024 slowed down to 0.80 percent from 1.63 percent in 2015- 2020.
The CPD attributed the slowdown to declining fertility rates and internal migration.
Another factor is rapid urbanization, citing that around 40 percent of Filipinos now live in the National Capital Region (NCR), which is the country’s premier region, Calabarzon and Central Luzon (CL).
Calabarzon is composed of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon, while CL is composed of Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bataan, Bulacan, and Zambales.
People are made to believe, however, that the government is doing everything to address the declining population growth in certain parts of the country.
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