MANILA — Population growth in Metro Manila declined in 2020, according to a census by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released on Friday.

According to the PSA's 2020 Census of Population and Household, the population growth rate in Metro Manila went down from 1.58 between 2010-2015 to 0.97 percent from 2015 to 2020.

The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) said that based on the study, most cities, particularly Navotas, were revealed to have a negative growth rate of -0.16 percent from 0.03 percent in 2015.

"In the previous population count, the municipality of Pateros recorded a negative growth rate of 0.09 but has increased to 0.45 in 2020. Other LGUs with a notable increase were San Juan, Malabon, Pasay, Pateros and Valenzuela. The latter reported an increase of up to 3.03 percent, the highest increase among all LGUs," the commission said.

The commission's chief in Metro Manila pointed the cause of decline on the internal migration of Filipinos to other provinces due to the COVID-19 pandemic which began in 2020. He also attributed it to the supposed success of the local family planning program.

“Our target for the country is 2.1 total fertility rate or around 2 children per woman during her reproductive years. With this scenario and further promotion of use of modern contraceptives in all barangays, we could see a declining population growth rate in the next few years," said POPCOM-NCR director Lydio Español.

According to POPCOM, Quezon City is still the most populated Metro Manila area with a total of 2,960,048 residents, followed by City of Manila with 1,846,513 and Caloocan City with 1,661,584.

The commission's latest tally of the Philippine population is 111,150,701.

• Uptick in 'lockdown babies' may peak in the first half of 2021: POPCOM director

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv