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Families enjoy the various amusement rides, games, and arcade video games during the reopening of Fiesta Carnival at Araneta City in Cubao, Quezon City on Dec. 9, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

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Families enjoy the various amusement rides

Arra Perez

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/171220884586720231209-fiesta-carnival-opening-MT-21.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Families enjoy the various amusement rides, games, and arcade video games during the reopening of Fiesta Carnival at Araneta City in Cubao, Quezon City on Dec. 9, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><span id="isPasted" style="white-space:pre-wrap;text-align:left">Families enjoy the various amusement rides, games, and arcade video games during the reopening of Fiesta Carnival at Araneta City in Cubao, Quezon City on Dec. 9, 2023. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Putting off getting married and delaying having children? According to the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), you are not alone.</p><p>A qualitative study commissioned by the CPD found that this situation has been “reinforced” by rising prices and anxiety over economic concerns.</p><p>“Economic uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 health emergency have reinforced Filipino couples and individuals’ preferences and behaviors on childbearing, as they opted to delay or deprioritize having children due to their perceived lack of financial capacity and insufficient income,&quot; <span id="isPasted" style="caret-color:rgb(65, 65, 65);color:rgb(65, 65, 65)">the CPD said in a statement.</span></p><p>&quot;These were further influenced by resultant hikes in prices of goods and services,” it added. </p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/25/23/pandemic-lowers-projected-ph-population-in-2023-to-112m" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pandemic lowers projected PH population in 2023 to 112M</a></div><p>Focus group discussions and key informant interviews in the study dubbed “Fertility Decline during COVID-19 Pandemic”, revealed that many couples’ decision not to have children during the global health crisis also “increased the acceptability of modern family planning (FP) methods.”</p><p>“But even before COVID the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics or CRVS has disclosed that the majority of the country’s regions were already displaying a downturn in the total number of registered births in 2019,&quot; the CPD added.</p><p>The commission explained that the trend was seen &quot;as early as 2017 and 2018, when there was a decline in total registered live births from 1,700,618 to 1,668,120, then in 2019 at 1,673,923&quot;.</p><p>&quot;The drop was more pronounced in 2020 as only 1,528,684 babies were born. The figure dipped further in 2021 to 1,364,739, but rebounded in 2022 at 1,455,393,&quot; it added.</p><p>CPD Executive Director Lisa Grace S. Bersales, Ph.D. said their recent study supports the claim that Filipinos, even before the COVID pandemic, “were already keen with their mindsets of delaying life-defining events such as dating, marriages and having children&quot;.</p><p>&quot;These preferences were reinforced by the shocks in broader socioeconomic conditions, and the rise in the level of uncertainties in various aspects of the pandemic. We are now monitoring whether these fertility behaviors have become the norm post-pandemic,&quot; she explained.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/3/20/psa-median-marriage-age-for-filipinos-at-28-30-1020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PSA: Median marriage age for Filipinos stands at 28-30</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>FAMILY PLANNING </strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Bersales noted an increase in the prevalence of contraceptive use—from 40 percent in 2017 to 42 percent in 2022.</p><p>&quot;Filipinos have increased their dependency on FP methods, of which the pandemic was deemed as a key catalyst for the hike in their usage<span id="isPasted" style="caret-color:rgb(65, 65, 65);color:rgb(65, 65, 65)">,&quot; she said.</span></p><p><span style="caret-color:rgb(65, 65, 65);color:rgb(65, 65, 65)">&quot;</span>The study revealed that female-centric methods: pills, ligation or female sterilization, and injectables are still the most preferred methods, and that women still carry out decisions with regard to FP as compared to men,&quot; the official added. </p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/03/09/23/snip-snip-hooray-tiktok-trend-dispels-vasectomy-myths" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&#x27;Snip-snip! Hooray!&#x27;: TikTok trend dispels vasectomy myths</a></div><p>Bersales said the country&#x27;s total fertility rate (TFR) could still decline, regardless of the effects of the COVID pandemic.</p><p>She said this was showed in the PSA’s 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), with a &quot;documented huge drop in registered live births from 2017 to 2022, and the sharp decline in TFR within the said years from 2.7 to 1.9&quot;.</p><p>At the time, Filipino women who want more children decreased to 48.8 percent from<span id="isPasted" style="caret-color:rgb(65, 65, 65);color:rgb(65, 65, 65)"> 52.6 percent</span>, and the number who wanted to have a child soon went down to 13.9 percent from 15.1 percent.</p><p>&quot;One positive result that came out from the pandemic was the more conscious consideration of couples’ and families’ socioeconomic capacities, as well as preparedness in their childbearing decisions,&quot; Bersales added.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/02/02/23/government-urged-consider-birth-control-access-for-minors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Government urged: Consider birth control access for minors</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>AGING POPULATION</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Still, the dip in the total fertility rate has varied effects.</p><p>&quot;In the short-term, the increasing capacity of couples and women to attain their fertility intentions will bring a measure of economic relief, lower competition for employment, possible poverty reduction, and the realization of the demographic dividend which the country is set to reap.” Bersales said.</p><p>“For the long view, we can expect a larger aging population, a decrease in income tax collection, and possibly a need to fill an impending workforce gap.”</p><p>As a post-pandemic intervention meant to address the country&#x27;s current fertility situation, the official proposed including the family planning program &quot;as a key response to emergency or crisis situations, with a more targeted approach that will address varying concerns of different population groups.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/01/10/24/is-an-aging-population-good-or-bad-for-ph" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Is an aging population good or bad for PH?</a></div><p>&quot;While the country’s TFR trend currently favors our socioeconomic indicators, the challenge is to sustain the accompanying benefits,&quot; Bersales shared.</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/01/08/24/ph-may-have-aging-population-by-2030-popcom" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PH may have aging population by 2030: POPCOM</a></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>Putting off getting married and delaying having children? According to the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), you are not alone.</p>

Putting off getting married and delaying having children? According to the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), you are not alone.

Filipinos delaying marriage, having children amid economic instability - CPD

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Filipinos delaying marriage, having children amid economic instability - CPD

Arra Perez,

ABS-CBN News

Published Apr 04, 2024 01:37 PM PHT

Read More:

marriage

family

family planning

contraceptive

reproductive health

population

aging population

fertility

pregnancy

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