Over a million Filipinos were added to the country’s population annually in the past five years, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Based on the results of the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH), PSA said the country’s population grew by 8.05 million to 109.035 million as of 1 May 2020 from the 100.98 million counted in the same period in 2015. This translated to an annual increase of 1.61 million Filipinos.
The rate of the country’s population growth slowed to 1.63 percent in the 2015 to 2020 period compared to the 1.72 percent recorded in the 2010 to 2015 period.
“The Philippine population represents the total number of persons living as of 12:01 AM on 01 May 2020 in the 17 administrative regions of the country. It also includes Filipinos in Philippine embassies, consulates, and missions abroad,” PSA said.
PSA said Region IV-A or CALABARZON had the biggest population in 2020 with 16.195 million followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) with 13.48 million and Region III or Central Luzon with a population of 12.42 million.
The region that saw the highest increase was also Calabarzon which recorded a 1.78 million increase in its population in 2020 from 14.41 million posted in 2015.
In terms of growth rate, PSA said the fastest-growing region was the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) with an annual population growth rate (PGR) of 3.26 percent from 2015 to 2020. However, Region VIII or Eastern Visayas posted the lowest PGR of 0.50 percent.
PSA said the count was declared official for all purposes by the President of the Philippines, pursuant to Proclamation No. 1179 dated 06 July 2021.
The 2020 CPH is the country’s 15th Census of Population and 7th Census of Housing since 1903.