METRO Manila has the highest proportion of youth living-in with their partners at 20.4 percent and the lowest in formal marriage at 2.2 percent, according to a study on young adult fertility and sexuality (YAFS4).
At a forum at the University of the Philippines, Diliman campus, Quezon City, Commission on Population executive director Juan Antonio Perez III presented the commission’s 2013 YAFS4’s “recent and fourth” study, citing its importance to help policy managers and the public to understand the sexual and non-sexual behaviors of the millennials, and come up with more responsive interventions.
The study said the metro has the highest prevalence of premarital sex at 40.9 percent, and the highest proportion who have read pornographic materials at 47.4 percent, visited sexually explicit websites at 33.3 percent and shared sexually explicit videos through Internet or mobile phones at 29.5 percent.
As far as teenage pregnancy is concerned, 18 percent of females from 15 to 19 had gotten pregnant, while 4.7 percent of males from 15 to 19 have gotten someone pregnant.
For every 100 youth, 41 have engaged in premarital sex, six have attempted suicide, six have used drugs, 56 drink liquor and 27 smoke.
Under the category of non-sexual risk behaviors, the highest rates of currently smoking and drinking are 26.6 percent and 56 percent, respectively.
The study showed the highest proportion of those who attempted suicide was 5.6 percent, and who experienced physical violence in the 12 months preceding the survey, both as aggressors at 34.5 percent and as victims at 29.5 percent.
“The National Capital Region is the political and economic heart of the Philippines, where the country’s seat of government is located,” YAFS4 survey said, adding “it is the most populous region in the country.”
The metro is composed of the cities of Manila, Quezon, Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela, and the municipality of Pateros.
Based on YASF4 data, the region has the best educational profile in the country and has the highest proportion of youth with college education (34.9 percent) and the lowest with elementary education (5.2 percent).
While the NCR exhibits a young population structure, it has the oldest population among all the regions based on its median age of 25.5 years, the highest in the country.
Other regional studies showed the significance of education to the sexual and non-sexual behavior of the young adults.
In Cordillera Administrative Region, young children with less education start child-bearing much earlier.
In the Ilocos region, the proportion of young people with early sexual initiation is higher than among those with low education.
Relatively, those who are in school are more likely to smoke in Western Visayas, PopCom said.
In the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, a very high rate of early school dropout among the youth has been observed.