Demographics
The population of the Philippines, as of the last census in 2007, numbered 88 574 614, with a population density of 295 per square kilometre. This translates to an average annual population growth rate of 2.04% for the period 2000 to 2007. Thus far, this is the lowest annual population growth rate recorded for the Philippines since the 1960s. Among the 14 regions of the country, Calabarzon (Region IV-A) had the largest population, with 11.74 million, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR), with 11.55 million, and Central Luzon (Region III), with 9.72 million. These three regions comprised more than one third (37.3% of the Philippine population.
The country's population is predominantly young, with the 0-14 year age group representing 33.8% and those aged 65 years and above comprising only 4.4%. There is an almost equal number of males and females. The crude birth rate is 20.5 per 1000 population and crude death rate is 4.8 per 1000 population. Life expectancy for both sexes is 67 years, with that of males being 64 years and females being 70 years.
Political situation
The Philippines is a democratic and republican state subscribing to the presidential form of government. There are three branches of government — the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The country has a unitary form of government and a multiparty political system. Executive power is vested in the President, who is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The Cabinet members are the heads of agencies and assist the President in drafting executive laws, policies and government programmes. The Constitution ensures direct election by the people for all elective positions from the President down to members of the barangay (village) councils.
In 1991, the Local Government Code transferred some of the powers of the national government to local government officials. The Code devolved basic services, including health, giving responsibility to local government units (LGU). The country is made up of political local government units of provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays. A local chief executive heads each LGU. Administrative autonomy enables the LGUs to raise local revenues, to borrow and to determine types of local expenditure, including expenditure on health care.
The country is preparing itself for the forthcoming presidential and local elections scheduled for May 2010. The elected president will become the 15th President of the Republic.
Socioeconomic situation
The Philippine economy was at its strongest in 2007, with the gross domestic product (GDP) real growth rate averaging 7.3%, the highest in 31 years. The economy continued to keep pace with population growth in the fourth quarter of 2007 as per capita GDP grew by 5.3% from 3.4 %.
The challenge for the Government is to make these economic gains felt among the poorer sectors of society. The 2006 official poverty statistics revealed an increase of 2.5 percentage points to 26.9% from 24.4% in 2003, meaning a total of 4.7 million poor families in 2006 compared with the 4.0 million estimated in 2003. In terms of population, the number of poor Filipinos reached 27.6 million in 2006, 16% more than the 23.8 million estimated in 2003, while food-poor individuals increased to 12.2 million, 14% more than in 2003. In the presence of the country's gains in economic growth, the Government's move to realign the national budget towards social services is a good opportunity to focus on the education and health needs of the population in tandem with an effective population management programme.
The gender gap appears to be in favour of girls as far as participation in basic education, technical-vocational education and training and higher education are concerned. There is a need for the Government and other education stakeholders to look more seriously at the low completion and retention rates among boys in the school system. Although indicators to reflect gender equality, such as the country' Gender Development Index (GDI) and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) reflect gains, these do not necessarily translate into positive measurable changes in the roles of and status of women, given the continuing incidence of violence against women, the predominance of female child-abuse victims, the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation, and female forced labour, among others.
The slow decline in maternal mortality means that the country is unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal maternal mortality target of 80% access to reproductive health services by 2015. The reasons include the inadequate access to integrated reproductive health services ( such as contraceptives, family planning, and responsible-parenthood education) by women, including poor adolescents, and men.
Risks, vulnerabilities and hazards
There is constant concern about the high population growth rate and it being a limiting factor for broad-based growth and poverty reduction.
The Philippines is still considered a low-HIV-prevalence country, with a prevalence rate of only 0.02%. However, the country is experiencing a steep rise in the number of new HIV cases reported. As of May 2009, there were 85 new HIV antibody seropositive individuals reported to the HIV and AIDS Registry. This was a 143% increase compared with the same period in 2008 (n=35 in 2008) and the highest ever reported in a month. Moreover, there is a shift in the epidemic scenario from predominantly hetero-sexual transmission to homo/ bisexual transmission; and those newly reported cases belong to the younger population group.
Due to its geographical location, the country faces various natural disasters such as typhoons, landslides, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Basic and emergency health services are readily mobilized to the affected population.