Filipino household becomes smaller

By Anna Yap

Although the population of the Philippines as of May 1, 2000 reaches 76.5 million, yet the average size of Filipino households declined to 5.0 persons, from 5.07 persons in 1995.

This means that for every 100 households, the total number of members was fewer by 7 persons in 2000 than it was in 1995.

The three regions that exhibited larger average household size than the national figure are Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao [ARMM] (6.13 persons), Caraga (5.32 persons), and Bicol - Region V (5.24 persons).

The population grew at the rate of 2.36 percent annually between 1995 and 2000.

This is slightly higher than the growth rate during the first half of the '90s (2.32 percent). The average annual growth rate during the entire '90s was 2.34 percent, while in the '80s it was 2.35 percent.

Pangasinan has the largest population among the provinces with 2,434,086 persons. Four other provinces surpassed the two-millionth mark: Cebu with 2.38 million persons; Bulacan, 2.23 million; Negros Occidental, 2.14 million and Cavite, 2.06 million.

Ranking of Provinces by Population Size, as of May 1, 2000

Province	Population	Province	Population
1. Pangasinan	2,434,086	12. Leyte	1,592,336
2. Cebu*	2,377,588	13. Iloilo*	1,559,182
3. Bulacan	2,234,088	14. Cam. Sur	1,551,549
4. Negros Occ.*	2,136,647	15. Zambo. del Sur*	1,333,456
5. Cavite	2,063,161	16. Isabela	1,287,575
6. Laguna	1,965,872	17. Bohol	1,137,268
7. Batangas	1,905,348	18. Negros Or.	1,126,061
8. Rizal	1,707,218	19. Albay	1,090,907
9. Quezon	1,679,030	20. Tarlac	1,068,783
10. Nueva Ecija	1,659,883	21. Bukidnon	1,060,265
11. Pampanga*	1,618,759

* excluding highly urbanized city/cities
Source:National Statistics Office May 2000

Meanwhile, the provinces with less than one hundred thousand population are Apayao (97,129 persons), Siquijor (81,598 persons), Camiguin (74,232 persons) and Batanes (16,467 persons).

The National Capital Region [NCR] remains the most densely populated region with 15,617 persons occupying a sq. km. of land. This man-land ratio is 61 times the national figure of 255 persons per sq. km. The NCR is the smallest region with a land area of 636 sq. km., which is 0.2 percent of the country's total land area.

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COPYRIGHT 2002
Students of Journalism 196-2
2nd Semester, SY 2001-2002
College of Mass Communication
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City, 1101
PHILIPPINES
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