CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Central Luzon population has reached 11.22 million, results of the 2015 Census of Population (POPCEN 2015) show.
It is higher by over a million since the previous POPCEN in 2010 and the region remains the third largest nationwide after CALABARZON and Metro Manila.
“Population Growth Rate (PGR) in the region is down from 2.14 percent in 2010 to 1.92 percent in 2015 but is still among the those that are above the national PGR,” Commission on Population Regional Director Eleanor Cura said.
Cura attributes the lowered PGR as a result of increased modern contraceptive prevalence rate due to continuous advocacy programs on reproductive health (RH) and family planning, among other factors.
Migration is seen as one of the major causes in the increase of Central Luzon’s population, due to the region’s proximity to Metro Manila.
“This is instrumental in pushing for Population and Development-centered planning among the local government units. They should put the people at the center of development through people-centered planning to ensure the needs of the people are met in order to attain the envisioned better quality of life among citizens,” Cura added.
She likewise connected the census results with the pressing need to address RH-related issues such as increasing cases of teenage pregnancy and increasing incidences of sexually transmitted infections including HIV-AIDS among adolescents.
“As the reproductive age and age of early sexual encounters become lower, and these are crucial factors in population dynamics, we need to ensure that values-laden and age-and-development-appropriate education on sexuality and reproductive health be urgently implemented in formal and non-formal learning,” she ended.
POPCEN 2015 was designed primarily to take an inventory of the population of the entire Philippines.
It also collected information about some characteristics of the population such as age, sex, marital status, and highest grade completed.
It was 14th POPCEN to be undertaken since 1903 and the third to be done in mid-decade.
Data collected shall be used by the government as basis in the formulation of plans, policies, and programs on the delivery of basic services to various segments of the population.
This will also be utilized to determine consumer demands and supply of labor for the production of goods and services.
Among the seven provinces comprising the region, Bulacan had the biggest population in 2015 with 3.29 million followed by Pampanga (excluding Angeles City) with 2.20 million, Nueva Ecija with 2.15 million, Tarlac with 1.37 million, Bataan with about 761,000, Zambales (excluding Olongapo City) with around 591,000, and Aurora with around 214,000.
For the two highly urbanized cities, Angeles posted a population of around 412,000 while Olongapo had around 233,000./(CLJD-PIA 3)