More babies born in 2022 after drop in births during pandemic

Registered live births in the country rose 6.6 percent to 1.46 million in 2022 from 1.36 million in 2021—a turnaround from the decline in births until 2021, when the country had been under lockdown and was just opening up after the pandemic year.

That meant 3,987 babies were born daily on average in 2022—or 166 babies per hour or three babies per minute, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) explained in a report released on Friday.

Data showed this was the first time since 2019 that live births registered an increase.At the height of the pandemic in 2020, births dropped 8.7 percent to 1.52 million, from 1.67 million in 2019. This further went down by 10.7 percent to 1.36 million in 2021.

Elderly, marriagesThe PSA said the number of births has been falling in the past decade. From 1.76 million babies born in 2013, births fell by 17.4 percent to the current figure of 1.46 million as of 2022.

“The number of young Filipinos appears to be trending significantly lower in recent years, while that of the elderly has been expanding,” the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) said in August that year, citing data from the PSA.

According to Popcom, Filipinos 60 years old and above had doubled from 4.5 million in 2000 to 9.2 million two decades later.

The number of marriages also declined by about half its 2000 figure of 577,387 to 240,183 in 2020.Other indicators

By location, 56.5 percent of total live births in 2022 were in Luzon, with the Calabarzon region having the highest births at 14.1 percent. This was followed by the National Capital Region (11.8 percent) and Central Luzon (11.7 percent).

The PSA said 52.1 percent of newborns were male while 47.9 percent were female, resulting in a sex ratio at birth of 109 males per 100 females.

Nine in 10 birth deliveries were medically attended in health facilities.

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About 86.7 percent of these babies weighed more than 5.5 pounds, or 2,500 grams—the low birth weight standard set by the World Health Organization to determine the health care of both mother and child in the pregnancy stage.

A majority of babies, at 406,767, were born to mothers ages 25 to 29, the PSA said.

It noted further that 58.1 percent of babies were born out of wedlock.

The agency said 90 percent of births were registered within 30 days after delivery. —IAN NICOLAS CIGARAL INQ