Skip to main content
Release Date :
Reference Number :
2019-230

In 2018, a total of 1,668,120 live births were registered, which is equivalent to a crude birth rate (CBR) of 15.8 or 16 births per thousand population.

The number of registered live births showed a decreasing trend, noticeably from 2012 to 2018. The decrease in the last six years was 6.8 percent, from 1,790,367 live births in 2012 to 1,668,120 recorded births in 2018. (See Figure 1 and Table 1)

On the average, there were about 4,570 babies born daily or about 190 babies born per hour or approximately three babies born per minute.

 

More males born than females

More males (870,832 or 52.2%) were born than females (797,288 or 47.8%), which resulted in a sex ratio at birth of 109 males per 100 females.
(See Figure 2 and Table 2)

 

Highest occurrence of births in NCR

Of the total live births, 58.4 percent were born in Luzon, 18.5 percent in Visayas and 23.0 percent in Mindanao. Among the regions of the country, the National Capital Region (NCR) recorded the highest number of birth occurrences with 14.3 percent. Second in rank was CALABARZON (13.8%) and the third was Central Luzon (11.3%).
(See Figure 3 and Table 2)

Note: Numbers may not add up precisely to the total due to rounding.

 

More babies born outside the usual residence of the mother

The difference between the place of birth by occurrence and place of birth by usual residence of the mother by region is shown in the last column of Table 2. Five out of the 17 regions reported positive differentials in the number of births by place of occurrence. These positive differentials may be indicative of expectant mothers giving birth outside of their usual place of residence due to better health care facilities and social services in the receiving region.  In Luzon, the receiving region was NCR which accounted for 22,210 births. Notably, expectant mothers from CALABARZON, Central Luzon and other areas in Luzon preferred to give birth in NCR.

Most number of births in September

In 2018, most births occurred in September with 156,820 (9.4%) of the total births in the country. It was followed by the months of October (9.3%), November (8.9%), and December (8.8%). The month of February had the least number of births in 2018 (see Figure 4).

 

Nine in ten birth deliveries are medically attended

Of the total number of births in the country, 94.3 percent birth deliveries were attended by health professionals which may either be a physician, a midwife or a nurse.  
(See Figure 5, Tables 3a, 3b and 3c)

The number of births by place of occurrence and by usual residence of mother showed a remarkable proportion on births attended by health professionals in 16 regions. This is indicative of improving health services in terms of maternal and child health care. Among regions, only Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) showed a very low proportion of medically attended births. Almost half of the births that occurred in the region were attended by traditional birth attendants (hilot/unlicensed midwife). (See Tables 3a, 3b and 3c)

More than half of babies born to unwed mothers

More than half (906,106 or 54.3%) of the total registered live births in 2018 were born out of wedlock. The three regions that recorded the highest number of illegitimate children based on usual residence of the mother were CALABARZON (146,366), NCR (142,702), and Central Luzon (102,766). (See Figure 6 and Table 4)

The proportion of illegitimate babies in 11 regions of the country, were more than half of its total births. On the other hand, ARMM expectedly had the most number of legitimate births.
The customs and traditions, rites and practices on marriage of Muslim communities has contributed to the high number of legitimate children in ARMM.

 

Majority of babies born to mothers aged 20-24 years old 

Majority of births were born to mothers aged 20-24 (454,648 or 27.3%) and to fathers aged 25-29 (411,606 or 24.7%). Moreover, babies born to adolescent mothers (183,967) were more than those babies sired by adolescent fathers (50,194). (See Figure 7 and Table 5)

The median age of mothers was 27 and for fathers was 29 years old. The median age of father excludes information from births where paternity is not acknowledged.

 

 

CLAIRE DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General

 

Explanatory Notes

Data on births presented in this release were obtained from the Certificates of Live Birth (Municipal Form No. 102) that were registered at the Office of the City/Municipal Civil Registrars all throughout the country and forwarded to the Philippine Statistics Authority. Information presented include registered births which occurred from January to December 2018. Cumulative figures for 2018 reflect updated data received from previous months and may differ from preliminary counts previously published. Births of Filipinos that occurred abroad which were reported to the Philippine Foreign Service Posts are presented in a separate report.

 

Attachment Size
PDF Special Release 4.85 MB
Excel spreadsheet Statistical Tables 35.26 KB

Related Contents

Birth, Marriage, and Death Statistics for 2023 (Provisional, as of 31 October 2023)

The data on the number of births, marriages, and deaths (vital events) presented in this regular monthly release were obtained from the vital events registered, either timely or belatedly, at the…

2023 Causes of Deaths in the Philippines (Provisional as of 31 October 2023)

The top three causes of death in the country from January to August of 2023 were ischaemic heart diseases, neoplasms, and cerebrovascular diseases. These were also the leading causes of death in the…