NEDA-7 sees positive impact in population growth decrease

The reported drop in population growth rate in the country denotes a positive impact on the quality of life of the people, commented a regional official of the National Economic Development Authority recently.

NEDA-7's social development division chief Rafael Tagalog Jr said, "This means there are less mouth to feed, less people without decent housing, decrease in unemployment, and better services for the people. If we are to improve, we must find a way to manage our population growth."

Tagalog explained that this fact also corresponds to a decrease in poverty incidence.

Although Central Visayas has relatively higher population growth rate than in other parts of the country, this may be attributed to the presence of migrants who are lured to come here for jobs and hope for a better life, he said.

In the last 2000 census on population and housing, the National Statistics Office showed that Central Visayas has a population of 5.8 million with Cebu being the most populated area with 3.35 million, followed by Negros Oriental (1.26-million), Bohol (1.2-million), and Siquijor (73,756).

Tagalog said NEDA-7 received reports saying that Cebu's population growth rate is between 1.90 percent and 1.94 percent, which is a bit lower than the 2003 projection of 2.05 percent.

NSO-7 information officer Noel Rafols said Central Visayas, in the last census survey, had a projected growth rate of 2.79 percent but this might be validated after the November census this year. - Gregg M. Rubio