Population growth rate increased to 1.81 percent

Marinduque had a total population of 217,392 persons based on the results of the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (Census 2000). This registered an increase of 17,482 persons from 199,910 persons five years ago. This translated to an annual growth rate of 1.81 percent from 1995 to 2000. If the average annual growth rate continues at 1.81 percent, the population of Marinduque was expected to double in 38 years.

Number of households rose to 43,921

The number of households of the province rose to 43,921 in 2000, registering an increase of 3,109 households in 1995. This gave an average household size of 4.95 persons, slightly higher than the 4.89 persons recorded in 1995.

Population of Marinduque ranked 10th in Southern Tagalog

Marinduque ranked tenth in terms of population size in the Southern Tagalog Region, contributing 1.84 percent to the 11.8 million population in the region. At the national level, Marinduque shared 0.28 percent to the total population of 76.5 million as recorded in the Census 2000.

Santa Cruz was the most populated municipality

Among the six municipalities in Marinduque, Santa Cruz, which comprised 27.6 percent of the total provincial population, ranked first in terms of population size. Boac, the provincial capital (22.3 percent) ranked second. Buenavista, on the other hand, had the least population with 8.9 percent of the provincial total.

Half of the population were below 20 years old

Marinduque had a median age of 20 years, higher than the 1995 median age of 19 years. This meant that half of the population of the province were aged 20 years and below.

Sex ratio was recorded at 102

Male population outnumbered their female counterparts with a sex ratio of 102 males for every 100 females. There were more males than females in the age bracket 0 to 54 years. As the age advanced to 55 years onwards, however, the females dominated their male counterparts.

Eight dependents for every 10 economically active persons

In 2000, the 0 to14 age group made up about 39 percent of the total population of the province while population aged 65 years and above comprised 5.3 percent. The economically active population aged 15 to 64 years, thus, made up 55.8 percent of the total population.

The overall dependency ratio in 2000 was 79.1. This meant that for every 100 persons aged 15 to 64 years, there were about 79 dependents (70 persons aged 0 to 14 years - young dependents and nine persons aged 65 years and over - old dependents). The 2000 ratio was lower than the 87.4 ratio reported in 1995.

Females dominated higher levels of education

Of the total household population five years old and over, almost half (49.6 percent) had attended or completed elementary education. Twenty seven percent had either attended or finished secondary education while 7.3 percent had attended college. Only 3.9 percent were academic degree holders. There were more males who had finished elementary education (51.1 percent) and secondary education (50.3 percent) compared to females (48.9 percent and 49.7 percent, respectively). On the other hand, those who had attended college, academic degree holders and post baccalaureate were predominantly females.

Majority of Marinduqueños were Tagalog

About 97 percent of the household population in Marinduque classified themselves as Tagalog. The remaining three percent were either Boholano, Pangasinan/Pangalatao, Bisaya/Binisaya, Bikol/Bicol, Ilocano, Cebuano, Hiligaynon/Ilonggo, or belonged to other ethnic groups.

Married persons outnumbered single persons

There was a higher percentage of married persons than single persons in Marinduque (47.1 percent for married versus 43.5 percent for single). Those who were either widowed, divorced/separated, with other arrangements or with unknown marital status comprised 9.3 percent of the household population 10 years old and over.

Housing occupancy rate was almost 100 percent

There were 43,708 housing units in Marinduque, of which 43,685 units (99.95 percent) were occupied by 43,921 households. This registered a ratio of 1.01 household per occupied housing unit and a ratio of 4.97 household population per occupied housing unit. Majority of occupied housing units were single houses (97.18 percent). Duplex and multi-unit residential houses accounted for only 1.19 percent and 0.69 percent, respectively.

Table 1. Total Population by Municipality and Sex: Marinduque, 2000