Total population grew by 2.04 percent annually

As of August 1, 2007, the Philippines had a total population of 88,548,366 persons, an increase of 12,041,438 persons over the May 1, 2000 population count of 76,506,928 persons. The 2007 census figure is almost twelve times the Philippine population in 1903 (7,635,426 persons), when the first census was conducted.

The increase in Philippine population translated to an average population growth rate (PGR) of 2.04 percent annually during the period 2000 to 2007. The annual PGR recorded during the period 1995 to 2000 was 2.36 percent.

The household population of the country in 2007 was 88,304,615 persons, higher by 11,991,134 persons from the household population of 76,313,481 persons in 2000. The number of households, meanwhile, increased by 21.4 percent from 15,275,046 in 2000 to 18,539,769 in 2007. The average household size in 2007 was 4.8 persons, lower than the average household size of 5.0 persons in 2000.

More than half of the population resided in Luzon

Luzon, which is composed of eight regions, comprised more than half (56.2 percent) of the country's total population. It was followed by Mindanao (24.4 percent) which has six regions and Visayas (19.4 percent) which has three regions.

Among the 17 regions in the Philippines, Region IV-A (CALABARZON) had the biggest population size in 2007. It had a total population of 11,757,755 persons comprising 13.3 percent of the country's total population. It was followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) with 11,547,959 persons (13.0 percent) and Region III (Central Luzon) with 9,709,177 persons (11.0 percent). When combined, these three regions comprised 37.3 percent of the total population of the Philippines. The least populated region was the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) with 1,520,847 persons or 1.7 percent of the country's total population.

Average household size of the country in 2007 was 4.8 persons

The average household size in the Philippines in 2007 was 4.8 persons. Seven regions had average household sizes higher than the national figure, namely: the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), 5.8 persons; Region XIII (Caraga), Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula), and Region V (Bicol), each with 5.0 persons per household; and Region X (Northern Mindanao), Region VI (Western Visayas), and Region VIII (Eastern Visayas), each with 4.9 persons per household. Meanwhile, the NCR had the lowest average household size of 4.4 persons.

Twenty-four provinces reached more than one million population

Twenty-four out of 80 provinces reached more than one million population in 2007. Fourteen of these 24 provinces were in Luzon, six in the Visayas, and four in Mindanao. Cavite (2.86 million persons) of Region IV-A, Bulacan (2.82 million persons) of Region III, Pangasinan (2.65 million persons) of Region I, Laguna (2.47 million persons) also of Region IV-A, and Cebu (excluding its three highly urbanized cities) (2.44 million persons) were the top five most populous provinces in the Philippines.

Among the 32 highly urbanized cities, Quezon City (2.68 million persons), City of Manila (1.66 million persons), Caloocan City (1.38 million persons), and Davao City (1.37 million persons) led in terms of population size. Meanwhile, the provinces with less than a hundred thousand population were Siquijor (87.7 thousand persons), Camiguin (81.3 thousand persons), and Batanes (16.0 thousand persons).

Males outnumbered females

Of the 88,304,615 household population, 50.5 percent were males while 49.5 percent were females. This resulted to a sex ratio of 102 males for every 100 females, slightly higher than the sex ratio of 101 males per 100 females in 2000. Regions VIII and XIII posted the highest sex ratio of 106 each. Moreover, NCR, Region IV-A, and ARMM were the only three regions which reported more females than males, that is, with sex ratios of less than 100.

Median age increased to 22 years

In 2007, the median age of the country's household population was 22 years, which means that half of the household population was below 22 years old. The median age in 2000 was 21 years. Median age was highest in the NCR (24 years) and lowest in ARMM (18 years).

Children aged 0 to 4 years and 5 to 9 years comprised the largest age groups, each making up 12.0 percent of the total household population, followed by age groups 10 to 14 years (11.6 percent) and 15 to 19 years (10.5 percent).

The age-sex distribution of the household population showed more males than females in age groups 0 to 54 years. Females outnumbered their male counterparts in the older age groups (55 years old and over).

Higher proportion of females than males among the voting-age population

At the national level, the voting-age population (18 years old and over) in 2007 numbered 51.1 million, accounting for 57.9 percent of the total household population. The size of the voting-age population recorded in 2000 was 43.4 million, or 56.8 percent of the total household population. There were more females (50.1 percent) than males (49.9 percent) among the voting-age population.

The five regions with the highest proportion of voting-age population were all located in Luzon: NCR (63.6 percent), Region I (59.9 percent), Region IV-A (59.7 percent), and Regions II and III (59.6 percent each). ARMM had the lowest proportion of voting-age population with 50.1 percent.

Dependency ratio decreased to 66 dependents per 100 persons in the working-age group

Of the total household population, 60.3 percent belonged to the working-age population (15 to 64 years). Young dependents (below 15 years) comprised 35.5 percent while old dependents (65 years and over) accounted for 4.1 percent.

The overall dependency ratio of the Philippines in 2007 was 66 dependents for every 100 persons in the working age group, down from 69 dependents in 2000. Of the 66 dependents, 59 were young dependents while seven were old dependents.

Across the country, 10 regions posted a dependency ratio higher than the national figure: Region V (83.7 percent), Region IV-B (83.0 percent), ARMM (80.6 percent), Region VIII (80.4 percent), Region XIII (74.0 percent), Region IX (70.5 percent), Region VI (69.6 percent), Region X (69.3 percent), Region XII (67.7 percent), and Region VII (67.4 percent). NCR had the lowest reported overall dependency ratio of 51 dependents for every 100 persons in the working age group.

More males than females among never-married

Of the household population 10 years old and over, 45.3 percent were married while 44.3 percent were never married. The rest of the household population was categorized as follows: widowed (4.3 percent), divorced/separated (1.2 percent), in common law/live-in marital arrangement (4.5 percent), and had unknown marital status (0.4 percent).

Among never-married persons, a higher proportion of males (53.8 percent) than females (46.2 percent) was reported in 2007. Meanwhile, the proportion of females was higher than males among married persons (50.4 percent), widowed (76.0 percent), divorced/separated (62.7 percent), and those in common law/live-in marital arrangement (50.7 percent).

Across regions, CAR (47.4 percent) had the highest proportion of never-married persons while Region II (51.9 percent) had the highest proportion of married individuals. Moreover, it is observed that Region I (5.4 percent) reported the largest proportion of widowed while NCR had the largest proportions of common law/live-in (7.3 percent) and divorced/separated (1.9 percent) persons.

Females outnumbered males among academic degree holders

Of the household population 5 years old and over, 36.7 percent had attended or completed elementary education, 32.5 percent had reached or finished high school, 8.0 percent were college undergraduates, and 8.6 percent were academic degree holders.

Among those with academic degrees, there were more females (56.2 percent) than males (43.8 percent). Similarly, among those with post baccalaureate courses, females (56.3 percent) outnumbered males (43.7 percent).

Moreover, the highest proportion of household population 5 years old and over who had not reached nor completed any grade level was in ARMM. Similarly, ARMM had a population with the least proportion of academic degree holders (3.4 percent). The NCR had the least proportion of household population with no grade completed (3.7 percent) and the highest proportion with academic degree holders (15.1 percent). The region with the highest proportion of household population with post baccalaureate course was CAR (0.3 percent) and the least was Region III (0.1 percent).

School attendance was higher among females than among males

About three out of five persons (63.3 percent) in the household population 5 to 24 years old had attended school at anytime during the School Year 2007 to 2008. School attendance was higher among females (64.0 percent of all females aged 5 to 24 years) than among males (62.7 percent of all males aged 5 to 24 years) during the said school year.

For the whole Philippines, the top five regions in terms of school attendance among persons 5 to 24 years old during the School Year 2007 to 2008 were CAR (68.9 percent), Region V (67.2 percent), Region VI (66.9 percent), Region I (66.0 percent), and Region IV-B (65.6 percent). ARMM had the lowest in terms of school attendance with 55.5 percent.

102 households per 100 occupied housing units

In 2007, there were 18.2 million occupied housing units in the country. This number is 22.0 percent higher than the 14.9 million occupied housing units recorded in 2000. A ratio of 102 households per 100 occupied housing units was recorded in 2007, slightly lower than the ratio of 103 households per 100 occupied housing units posted in 2000. The number of persons per occupied housing unit was 4.9 persons in 2007, lower than the ratio of 5.1 persons per occupied housing unit in 2000.

Majority of occupied housing units had outer walls and roof made of strong construction materials

Among the 18.2 million occupied housing units in the Philippines in 2007, the most common construction materials used for outer walls were concrete/brick/stone (36.8 percent), half concrete/brick/stone and half wood (20.8 percent), and bamboo/sawali/cogon/nipa (19.8 percent). In 2000, the most common construction materials used for the outer walls were concrete/brick/stone (30.8 percent), bamboo/sawali/cogon/nipa (22.8 percent), and wood (22.7 percent).

As to the construction materials of the roof, 75.0 percent of occupied housing units had roofs made of galvanized iron/aluminum in 2007. In 2000, galvanized iron/aluminum was also the main construction material used for the roof with 67.6 percent of all occupied housing units in the country.