The fertility rate in the Philippines has dipped from three children back in 2013, down to 2.7 in 2017. This decline in fertility rate is being attributed to more and more women using contraceptives, according to the Commission on Population (PopCom).
For some people, a decline in the fertility rate is good news, especially since the country suffers from overpopulation. | Photo from: Wikimedia Commons
Why is the fertility rate in the Philippines dropping?
According to the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority, the fertility rate of women in the Philippines dropped from an average of three children, down to 2.7.
PopCom attributes this decline with “an increase in the use of modern family planning methods by over 40 percent of currently married women.”
Additionally, the RH law was partly responsible for this decline.
PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III shares, “This unprecedented chance for family planning in the last four years… coincided with the first four to five years of the implementation of the responsible parenthood and reproductive health (RH) law.”
The RH law became controversial as a number of religious and pro-life groups were against it. However, it was implemented, albeit, with some significant changes. The law aims to provide comprehensive reproductive health coverage for Filipino women for free.
The RH law not only promotes the use of contraceptives but also other natural forms of contraception.
Source: Inquirer
Photo from: Wikimedia Commons, af.mil
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