The Philippine population is projected to hit 142 million in 2045 with the fastest growth to be recorded in Mindanao, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday.
“This signifies about 49 million persons added to the country’s population from 2010 to 2045, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 1.21 percent,” national statistician Lisa Grace Bersales said.
“All regions are expected to increase in population but with varying rates of growth,” she added.
The PSA said 10 regions were expected to grow faster than the national average, with five of these in Mindanao.
Of the five regions in Mindanao, the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao is projected to register the highest average annual growth rate of 2.12 percent for the 2010-2045 period.
Caraga’s expected population growth rate of 1.72 percent ranked the second fastest, with SOCCSKSARGEN, Davao Region and Zamboanga Peninsula rounding the top five.
The regions in Luzon that will post the next highest population growth rates are the Cordillera Administrative Region with 1.35 percent; Calabarzon, 1.31 percent; Mimaropa,1.58 percent; and Bicol, 1.65 percent.
Eastern Visayas, meanwhile, is projected to grow by an annual average of 1.53 percent.
In terms of number of population, Calabarzon, comprising the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon will remain the largest by 2040 with 20.1 million, followed by the National Capital Region and Central Luzon with 14.5 million each.
Western Visayas and Central Visayas are the other regions surpassing the 10-million mark, with 10.4 million each in 2045.
the PSA also said CAR would continue to have the smallest population with 2.6 million in 2045.
The Philippine population stood at 92.34 million as of PSA’s latest data in May 2010.
The population earlier was forecast to reach 104 million at the end of 2015, prompting the Department of Health to express.
The department said it would need an additional P3 billion to P4 billion to fund the government’s P6-billion immunization program.
Health Secretary Janette Garin described as a huge challenge the Commission on Population projection that around 1.5 million babies were expected to be born in 2014 by 23-million women, aged 15 to 49, who were of reproductive age.
With the surge from the current population of 102.4 million, PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III said the country would probably have the “biggest number of women of reproductive age that we will ever see, at 25 to 30 million” in five to 10 years.
“We have many five- to 10-year-old girls who will become reproductive in the next five years. We cannot do anything about that. So what we are trying to do is reduce their need for services,” Perez said.