The Booming Population of the Philippines

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1591---------0.7M
1799---------1.5M
1887---------6.0M
1898---------5.3M
1903---------7.6M
1939-------16.0M
1941-------17.0M
1960-------27.1M
1970-------36.7M
1975-------42.1M
1980-------48.1M
1990-------60.7M
1995-------68.6M
2000-------76.5M (latest official cencus)
2005-------85.3M (est.)
2007-------88.6M (est.)
2009-------92.2M (est.)
2040-----141.7M (NSO projection)

*All figures (except 2005 figure and the 2040 projection) are taken from http://www.wikipedia.org/.
** All figures are rounded to millionth for better understanding in the analysis.








From 666,712 people living in the Philippines in 1591 to 92,226,600 this year, the population increased by about 72% in 418 years. The population would continue to grow (unless the Philippine government would declare war against China or Japan, or many would die because of A(H1N1) virus, or our government would prohibit sex among Filipinos), and according to the projection made by the National Statistics Office, it would increase from 76.5 million in 2000 to 141.7 million in 2040. About 65.2 million people would be added to ever booming Philippine population between 2000 and 2040. There are 192 countries in the world (countries recognized by the United Nations), and our country ranks 12th among the most populous countries. All I can say is a BIG WOW! Our country has 300,000 square kilometers land area, so if we measure the population density, in 2040 there would be 472 people who will share each square kilometer! This is really a pain in the ass not only to our government but primarily to the ordinary Juan. How I wish our land area would also increase in size by 2040!

With big population comes with huge and unimaginable problems. A prime example here is the scarcity of food supply which leads to hunger. What percentage of Filipinos say they are poor? According to the self-rated survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS) on the 1st quarter of 2009, about 47% of Filipino families consider themselves poor. Let's say the average size of the Filipino family is 4, then this equates to 43.32 million Juans who consider themselves poor. Follow the computation below for your reference on how I got this figure.
92.2 million population (2009)/4 persons per family = 23.05 million Filipino families in 2009
23.05 million families x 47% families who consider themselves poor = 10.83 million Filipino families who are poor = 10.83 milllion poor Filipino families x 4 persons per family = 43.32 million Filipinos out of 92.2 million population in 2009 who rated themselves as poor.


What are we doing then, especially the government to address this issue? This is quite alarming, isn't it? I just hope that the government would prioritize development especially in the far-flung areas. Basic services such as education and health should be delivered in all communities. Tama na po ang corruption. Pagod na si Juan sa kaliwa't kanan na iskandalo sa gobyerno.