EDITORIAL - A permanent stumbling block

The Philippine population has reached the 92 million mark according to the data released by the National Statistics Office. The 2010 Census of Population and Housing conducted from May to June 2010 revealed that there are 92,337,852 Filipinos living in the country as of 2010.

Although the figure was below the 94 million target for 2010, the NSO record showed that the country’s population grew by 15 million from 76 million in 2000. With an annual growth rate of 1.9 percent from 2000 to 2010, the data said that for every 100 people, at least two persons were added per year.

Cebu is among the nine provinces with a population surpassing the two million mark. Excluding the three metro cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, the province’s population now stands at 2.62 million, fifth on the list topped by Cavite, Bulacan, Pangasinan and Laguna.

It’s unfortunate that the country failed to capitalize on the burgeoning population. In other countries, the population has been the driving force towards improving the economy.

A case in point is Taiwan. With only the size of Samar but with a population of 23 million, Taiwan was able to attain a developed economy status because of its huge labor force. Because there are jobs for everybody as the government managed to attract massive investments, consumer spending was high that this pushed the economy upward.

In the Philippines, what happened was clearly the opposite. The country’s huge population has instead become a liability in the government’s campaign for higher economic growths.

Instead of focusing on infrastructure expenditures, the government is forced to spend more on food procurements to feed millions who are relying on subsidies. This adds to the fact that investments come in trickles because of a system unattractive to investors.

Now the country’s population explosion has created a serious problem of high unemployment. Millions have no jobs because the government failed to outline a concrete approach towards drawing more investments.

There’s no doubt that population is the biggest asset of a nation. But in this country, it has become the curse, a permanent stumbling block towards achieving real economic prosperity.