Baby girl Vinice with mother Margarette Mabansag at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Medical Center in Manila. (Photo from Popcom)
MANILA, Philippines — Baby girl Vinice – symbolically the “eight billionth person” in the world – was born on Monday at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Medical Center in Manila, the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The mother, 27-year-old Margarette Mabansag, had a normal delivery at 1:29 a.m.
Popcom called Vinice and other newborns as the “future and potential contributors to the progress and development of the Philippines, given the right governmental and societal interventions on health, education, nutrition, and other fundamental needs.”
Vinice’s birth came at a time when the total fertility rate in the Philippines has shown an unprecedented decline, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
While the world’s population breached the eight billion mark, the total fertility rate of Filipino women aged 15 to 49 for 2022 decreased to 1.9 children, down from 2.7 children in 2017.
The world population surged past eight billion people on Tuesday, according to the United Nations.