Population growth rate at 3.25 percent

The population of Batanes, as of May 1, 2000, stood at 16,467 persons. This was higher by 1,441 persons or 9.6 percent compared to the 1990 figure or almost twice the population of the province in 1903. The population of Batanes declined at the rate of 1.1 percent annually during the first half of the nineties but grew at the rate of 3.25 percent per year from 1995 to 2000.

Basco, the provincial capital, was the largest in terms of population

Among the six municipalities in the province, Basco, the capital of the province, registered the largest population at 6,717 persons. It accounted for 40.79 percent of the total population of the province. Itbayat followed with 3,616 persons (21.90 percent) while Mahatao registered the third at 1,895 persons (11.51 percent). These three municipalities combined comprised 74.3 percent of the province's total population. Uyugan and Ivana had the least population with about eight percent each.

Batanes was the least populous province in Cagayan Valley

Batanes was the least populous province in (Region II) Cagayan Valley, contributing only 0.59 percent to the 2.8 million population of the region. It was also the smallest province in the Philippines in terms of population and land area.

Batanes had a median age of 22 years

Batanes had a median age of 22 years, higher by two years than the figure in 1995 (20 years). Males outnumbered females with a sex ratio of 105 males for every 100 females. However, among the population aged 60 years and over, females dominated their male counterparts.

Seven dependents for every ten economically active persons

In 2000, the population aged 0 to 14 years was 33.6 percent of the total population while those aged 65 years and over comprised 7.6 percent. The economically active population aged 15 to 64 years, thus, made up 58.8 percent of the total population in Batanes.

The overall dependency ratio in 2000 was 70. This means that for every 100 persons aged 15 to 64 years, there were about 70 dependents (57 persons aged 0 to 14 years - young dependents; and 13 persons aged 65 years and over - old dependents), an improvement of 13.5 percentage points over the 83.5 ratio reported in 1995.

Females predominated the highly educated

The Census 2000 showed that the proportion of the population 5 years old and over who attended or completed elementary education (31.0 percent) was lower than that in 1995 (37.7 percent). In the same manner, the percent of those who reached or completed high school (27.0 percent) declined by four percentage points over the 1995 figure. On the other hand, the proportions that were academic degree holders rose from 9.2 percent in 1995 to 10.3 percent in 2000. A small proportion (0.7 percent) had post baccalaureate education.

Majority of those who had attended or finished high school education were males (55.9 percent). On the other hand, those who had attended or finished college and post baccalaureate were predominated by females.

Majority were Ivatan/Itbayat

About 96 percent of the household population in Batanes classified themselves as Ivatan/Itbayat. The remaining four percent were Ilocano, Tagalog or were from other ethnic groups.

Over 50 percent were single

The largest proportion (51.1 percent) of the population 10 years old and over was single. This was higher by 2.3 percentage points as compared to the 1995 proportion of 48.8 percent. The proportion of married persons was 40.8 percent in 2000, a decrease of 3.7 percentage points from 44.5 percent in 1995. The remaining 8.1 percent were either widowed, divorced/separated, with other marital arrangements, or with unknown marital status.

Low vision was the common disability

Out of 16,467 household population of the province, only 496 persons (3.0 percent) were reported to have some types of disability. Among the disabled, persons with low vision constituted the highest proportion (31.0 percent) followed by those with difficulty in hearing (14.9 percent) and those who lost one or both legs/feet (7.3 percent).

Housing unit occupancy rate at 96.8 percent

The 2000 Census of Population and Housing showed that 96.8 percent of the housing units in Batanes (3,442) were occupied. Most of these units were single houses, which accounted for 97.1 percent. This registered a ratio of 1.01 household per occupied housing unit and 4.8 persons per occupied housing unit.

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