PH fertility rate dropping, survey shows

From 3.0 children in 2013, to 2.7 in 2017.

Filipino women were having fewer children in 2017, a decrease in fertility rate that the Commission on Population (PopCom) attributed to the increased use of modern family planning methods.

Citing the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority, the PopCom said the fertility rate of Filipino women in 2017 was at a statistical average of 2.7 children, compared to the 3.0 children statistical average in 2013.

The decline “was associated with an increase in the use of modern family planning methods by over 40 percent of currently married women,” the PopCom said in a statement.

RH law

“This unprecedented chance for family planning in the last four years … coincided with the first four to five years of the implementation of the responsible parenthood and reproductive health (RH) law,” said PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III, referring to the controversial RH law passed in 2012.

The 2017 NDHS also showed that while more women were using oral contraceptive pills and injectables, the use of progestin subdermal implants like Implanon was only at 1.1 percent.

Supreme Court TRO

Perez said this was due to the Supreme Court’s 2015 temporary restraining order (TRO) against implants and contraceptives.

“The effect of the two-year TRO on implants and contraceptives still rears its head with lower rates for implants and a less rigorous improvement in the use of oral contraceptives,” he said.

The PopCom said it would continue to focus on the poorest 40 percent of Filipino women who have the highest unmet need for family planning.