Senior citizens numbered to 4.6 million

The total number of senior citizens (60 years old and over) based on the 2000 Census of Population and Housing was 4.6 million, accounting for 5.97 percent of the 2000 Philippine population. This number registered a 22.18 percent increase from 1995 (3.7 million persons). In terms of the average annual population growth rate, the elderly population grew at 4.39 percent during the 1995 to 2000 period, higher when compared to the 1990 to 1995 growth rate of 3.06 percent. If the growth rate continues at 4.39 percent, the number of senior citizens is expected to reach seven million in 2010 and to double in approximately 16 years.

             

Table A. Population Distribution of Senior Citizens by Region: Philippines, 2000

Region	Total Population	Number of Senior Citizens	Percent to Total Senior Citizens	Percent to Regional Population
PHILIPPINES	76,504,077	4,565,560	100.00	5.97
REGION I - Ilocos Region	4,200,478	337,797	7.40	8.04
REGION II - Cagayan Valley	2,813,159	179,655	3.94	6.39
REGION III - Central Luzon	8,030,945	482,333	10.56	6.01
REGION IV - Southern Tagalog	11,793,655	648,495	14.20	5.50
REGION V - Bicol Region	4,686,669	313,531	6.87	6.69
REGION VI - Western VIsayas	6,211,038	473,752	10.38	7.63
REGION VII - Central Visayas	5,706,953	409,791	8.98	7.18
REGION VIII - Eastern Visayas	3,610,355	270,447	5.92	7.49
REGION IX - Western Mindanao	3,091,208	157,324	3.45	5.09
REGION X - Northern Mindanao	2,747,585	155,273	3.40	5.65
REGION XI - Southern Mindanao	5,189,335	259,533	5.68	5.00
REGION XII - Central Mindanao	2,598,210	120,425	2.64	4.63
NCR (National Capital Region)	9,932,560	468,876	10.27	4.72
CAR (Cordillera Administrative Region)	1,365,412	86,741	1.90	6.35
ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao)	2,412,159	76,590	1.68	3.18
Caraga	2,095,367	124,283	2.72	5.93

Source: NSO, 2000 Census of Population & Housing

 

Southern Tagalog had the largest number of senior citizens

The largest percentage of senior citizens was found in Southern Tagalog (Region IV) with a 14.2 percent contribution to the total while the lowest percentage was registered in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with 1.68 percent. A number of senior citizens was also found in Central Luzon (10.56 percent), Western Visayas (10.38 percent), and National Capital Region (10.27 percent).

In terms of the proportion of senior citizens to the regional population, Ilocos Region had the highest percentage (8.04 percent) of senior citizens. Western Visayas (7.63 percent) and Eastern Visayas (7.49 percent) followed. Meanwhile, in ARMM, only 3.18 percent of the region�s population ware senior citizens.

Sex ratio was recorded at 85 males for every 100 females

Of the 4.6 million senior citizens, about 54.11 percent (2.5 million) were females while the rest were males. This translated to a sex ratio of 84.8, that is, 85 males for every 100 female senior citizens, which was lower than the 1990 and 1995 sex ratios (88.43 and 87.63 percents, respectively). Female senior citizens outnumbered males in all regions except in Southern Mindanao, Central Mindanao, and ARMM with a sex ratio of 101.78, 100.57, and 121.31 respectively. Females visibly outnumbered males in NCR and Ilocos Region with a sex ratio of 76.5 and 76.8, respectively.

As expected, the percentage distribution of senior citizens tails off as age increases. About 35.77 percent of the said population were 60 to 64 years old and 24.94 percent were 65 to 69 years old.

Female senior citizens outnumbered males in all age groups with the biggest gap in the 80 years and over age group.

Median age at 68 years

Senior citizens had a median age of 68 years, same as that of 1990 and 1995. This means that half of the senior citizens were below 68 years old.

Among regions, the median age of senior citizens in Ilocos Region (Region I) was the highest at 69.15 years. All other regions that surpassed the national median age of 67.85 years were Regions II (67.97), III (68.05), V (68.06), VI (68.20), VII (68.24), VIII (68.06), and CAR (68.02).

Three in five elders were married

Of the household population 60 years old and over, 60.38 percent were married and 30.02 percent were widowed. A relatively small proportion were reported single (5.03 percent). Another 1.17 percent were divorced/separated and 2.76 percent were with other marital arrangements.

There was a higher proportion of males among married senior citizens (57.82 percent) and among those with other marital arrangements (62.08 percent). On the other hand, females dominated the single (70.99 percent), widowed (76.49 percent), and divorced/separated groups (57.26 percent).

Five percent were academic degree holders

Three in five senior citizens reached at most elementary and 15.69 percent at most high school. About 4.85 percent were college undergraduates and only five percent were able to finish a degree.

Those who had not completed any grade made up of 10.15 percent, of which more than half (59.48 percent) were females.

 

Only 3.95 percent of senior men were degree holders while 5.49 percent of senior women. On the other hand, the proportion of those who had not completed any grade or reached at most elementary was higher for men than for women.

Six in every hundred Roman Catholics were senior citizens

Six percent of the Roman Catholics (including Catholic Charismatic) were senior citizens. They also comprised 9 percent of the Aglipays, 3.17 percent of the Islams, 5.39 percent of the Iglesia ni Cristo and 6.26 percent of the Seventh Day Adventist. On the other hand, 6.38 percent of the senior citizens do not have any religion.

Among senior citizens, majority were Roman Catholics (82.89 percent), 2.97 were Aglipays, 2.68 percent were Islams, and 2.08 were Iglesia ni Cristo.

Majority were in the same city/municipality five years ago

Majority (95.91 percent) of the household population 60 years old and over remained in the same city/municipality where they were five years ago, 1.84 percent or 84,078 were migrants from other places within the country, and 0.19 percent from other countries.

One in twenty Tagalogs was a senior citizen

Senior citizens comprised 5.04 percent of the Tagalogs, 5.82 percent of the Cebuanos, 7.80 percent of the Ilocanos, 6.66 percent of the Hiligaynon/Ilongos, 5.81 percent of the Bisaya/Binisayas, 6.60 percent of the Bikolano/Bicolanos, and a very small proportion of the other ethnic groups.

Among senior citizens, 23.74 percent were Tagalogs, 12.82 percent were Cebuanos, 11.84 percent were Ilocanos, 8.43 percent were Hiligaynon/Ilongos, 7.57 percent were Bisaya/Binisayas, 6.64 percent were Bikolano/Bicolanos, and the rest belonged to other ethnic groups.

More than half of senior citizens were household heads

More than half of the household population 60 years old and over (57.41 percent) were household heads and nearly one-fourth were spouses of the household heads. Of the total number of households in the Philippines (15.3 million), 17.13 percent (2.6 million households) were headed by senior citizens.

Headship rate among males and females was highest at ages 60 to 64 years (39.41 percent for male-headed households and 29.69 percent for females).

 

Three in every five senior citizens who were living alone were females

About 5.38 percent of the senior citizens were living alone, most of them were aged 60 to 64 years and majority were females (64.54 percent).

 

Table B. Number of Senior Citizens Living Alone by Five-year Age Group and Sex: Philippines, 2000

Age Group	Sex
	Both Sexes	Male	Female
Total	245,415	87,020	158,395
60-64	57,042	24,400	32,642
65-69	54,420	19,681	34,739
70-74	52,704	17,376	35,328
75-79	40,304	12,355	27,949
80 and Over	40,945	13,208	27,737

Source: NSO, 2000 Census of Population & Housing

 

Seven in ten households were headed by male senior citizens. Of the male-headed households, those with two members (17.57 percent) and three members (17.02 percent) had the highest proportion. For female-headed households, the highest proportion was for those households with only one member (19.88 percent) and two members (16.57 percent).

 

Table C. Number of Households Headed by Senior Citizens by Household Size and Sex of Household Head: Philippines, 2000

Household Size	Sex of Household Head
	Both Sexes	Male	Female
Total	2,616,721	1,819,938	796,783
1	245,415	87,020	158,395
2	492,600	319,729	172,871
3	441,952	309,893	132,059
4	381,657	280,874	100,783
5	312,753	236,524	76,229
6	248,472	192,481	55,991
7	182,477	143,683	38,794
8+	311,395	249,734	61,661

Source: NSO, 2000 Census of Population & Housing

 

Five percent of the elders were foreigners

Almost all senior citizens were Filipinos (94.54 percent). The remaining 5.46 percent were either British, Americans, Bahrainis, Chinese, others, or with unknown citizenship.

Low vision was the most common type of disability

A total of 942 thousand (1.23 percent) of the 76 million population in the Philippines had disabilities. Of this number, 329 thousand were senior citizens and they accounted for 34.93 percent of the total persons with disabilities (PWDs). Moreover, of the total number of senior citizens, 7.21 percent had some forms of disability.

Senior males with disability constituted 31.31 percent of the total males with disability while senior females constituted 38.52 percent of the total females with disability.

Low vision was the common disability among senior citizens (54.11 percent). Others suffered from difficulty of hearing (9.7 percent), partial blindness (8.43 percent), partial deafness (6.43 percent), and total blindness (4.52 percent).

A higher percentage of female PWD senior citizens suffered from low vision (56.48 percent vs. 51.16 percent), partial blindness (8.60 percent vs. 8.22 percent) and total blindness (4.81 percent vs. 4.15 percent) while more male PWDs suffered from difficulty in hearing (10.45 percent vs. 9.10 percent) and partial deafness (7.01 percent vs. 5.96 percent).

Majority were literate

Among senior citizens, 81.01 percent were able to read and write a simple message. Literacy rate for males (82.23 percent) was higher than that of the females (79.97 percent).

At the regional level, the highest percentage of literate senior citizens was observed in NCR (96.17 percent). Other regions with a literacy rate higher than the national average (81.01 percent) were Ilocos Region (83.13 percent), Central Luzon (86.41 percent), Southern Tagalog (85.41 percent), Bicol Region (82.53 percent), Western Visayas (80.31 percent), and CARAGA (81.04 percent). The lowest literacy rate was reported in ARMM (42.19 percent).

 

Table D. Literacy Rate of Senior Citizens by Sex, Age Group and Region: Philippines, 2000

Age Group	Literacy Rate
	Both Sexes	Male	Female
Total	81.01	82.23	79.97
60-64	85.67	86.19	85.18
65-69	82.62	83.79	81.58
70-74	79.17	80.23	78.29
75-79	75.98	77.40	74.90
80 and Over	69.89	71.11	69.09
REGION
PHILIPPINES	81.01	82.23	79.97
REGION I - Ilocos Region	83.13	85.62	81.23
REGION II - Cagayan Valley	76.00	77.96	74.24
REGION III - Central Luzon	86.41	88.83	84.49
REGION IV - Southern Tagalog	85.41	87.04	84.09
REGION V - Bicol Region	82.53	84.23	81.05
REGION VI - Western VIsayas	80.31	80.28	80.34
REGION VII - Central Visayas	76.09	78.01	74.49
REGION VIII - Eastern Visayas	76.38	76.23	76.52
REGION IX - Western Mindanao	67.21	69.19	65.25
REGION X - Northern Mindanao	80.15	80.52	79.81
REGION XI - Southern Mindanao	76.49	78.11	74.84
REGION XII - Central Mindanao	71.86	72.63	71.08
NCR (National Capital Region)	96.17	97.27	95.32
CAR (Cordillera Administrative Region)	61.64	68.96	55.15
ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao)	42.19	47.40	35.87
Caraga	81.04	81.68	80.42

Source: NSO, 2000 Census of Population & Housing

 

More than half of senior citizens were gainful workers

Of the household population 60 years old and over, more than half were gainful workers. They comprised 8.25 percent of the male gainful workers and 8.62 percent of the female gainful workers.

 

Table E. Number of Gainful Senior Citizens by Region: Philippines, 2000

Region	Total Senior Citizens (Household Population)	Number of Gainful Senior Citizens	Percent to Total Number of Gainful Senior Citizens	Percent to Total Senior Citizens
PHILIPPINES	4,557,848	2,600,990	100.00	57.07
REGION I - Ilocos Region	337,562	166,591	6.40	49.35
REGION II - Cagayan Valley	179,515	89,969	3.46	50.12
REGION III - Central Luzon	481,918	232,976	8.96	48.34
REGION IV - Southern Tagalog	647,801	382,805	14.72	59.09
REGION V - Bicol Region	313,220	176,314	6.78	56.29
REGION VI - Western VIsayas	473,156	239,328	9.20	50.58
REGION VII - Central Visayas	409,236	238,086	9.15	58.18
REGION VIII - Eastern Visayas	270,167	161,224	6.20	59.68
REGION IX - Western Mindanao	157,144	106,706	4.10	67.90
REGION X - Northern Mindanao	155,155	100,933	3.88	65.05
REGION XI - Southern Mindanao	259,111	167,780	6.45	64.75
REGION XII - Central Mindanao	120,290	71,715	2.76	59.62
NCR (National Capital Region)	465,514	271,834	10.45	58.39
CAR (Cordillera Administrative Region)	86,603	57,680	2.22	66.60
ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao)	76,561	63,486	2.44	82.92
Caraga	124,181	73,026	2.81	58.81

Source: NSO, 2000 Census of Population & Housing

 

Gainful senior citizens were mostly in Southern Tagalog (14.72 percent) and NCR (10.45 percent). On the distribution of gainful senior citizens by region, a large proportion (82.92 percent) of senior citizens in ARMM were gainful workers. The proportion in Western Mindanao and CAR followed where 67.90 percent and 66.60 percent of their senior citizens, respectively, were gainful workers.

Two in five senior citizens were farmers, forestry workers or fishermen

Of the gainful senior citizens, 40.59 percent were farmers, forestry workers or fishermen and about ten percent (9.61 percent) were laborers and unskilled workers. Senior citizens constituted 13.77 percent of the total farmers, forestry workers or fishermen and 6 percent of the total laborers and unskilled workers.

Most gainful senior citizens worked without pay in own family operated farm/business

More than half (52.47 percent) of the gainful senior citizens worked without pay in own-family operated farm/business, one in five (20.62 percent) was self-employed without any paid workers, and 11.89 percent worked for private business/enterprise/farm; all of them were dominated by males (52.34 percent, 73.56 percent, and 77.41 percent, respectively).

One-third of gainful senior citizens worked in the same city/municipality

One in three gainful senior citizens (67.50 percent) worked in the same city/municipality where he resided, 3.04 percent in other places within the country, and 0.33 percent worked abroad.

One in five households had at least one senior citizen

The number of households with at least one member aged 60 years and over was 3.3 million (21.84 percent of the total households in the country), an increase of 987,699 households from the 1990 figure.

 

Table F. Number of Households with at least one Senior Citizen by Region: Philippines, 2000

Region	Total Number of Households	Number of Households with a Senior Citizen	Percent to Total Number of Households with a Senior Citizen	Percent to Total Number of Households
PHILIPPINES	15,278,808	3,337,082	100.00	21.84
REGION I - Ilocos Region	831,549	243,969	7.31	29.34
REGION II - Cagayan Valley	554,491	129,599	3.88	23.37
REGION III - Central Luzon	1,632,047	354,638	10.63	21.73
REGION IV - Southern Tagalog	2,413,043	483,077	14.48	20.02
REGION V - Bicol Region	893,833	223,376	6.69	24.99
REGION VI - Western VIsayas	1,211,804	340,909	10.22	28.13
REGION VII - Central Visayas	1,133,767	294,201	8.82	25.95
REGION VIII - Eastern Visayas	715,070	196,132	5.88	27.43
REGION IX - Western Mindanao	595,831	116,382	3.49	19.53
REGION X - Northern Mindanao	542,071	113,464	3.40	20.93
REGION XI - Southern Mindanao	1,066,199	194,252	5.82	18.22
REGION XII - Central Mindanao	501,870	90,414	2.71	18.02
NCR (National Capital Region)	2,132,989	345,351	10.35	16.19
CAR (Cordillera Administrative Region)	263,851	63,665	1.91	24.13
ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao)	393,269	56,796	1.70	14.44
Caraga	393,362	90,306	2.71	22.96

Source: NSO, 2000 Census of Population & Housing

Southern Tagalog had the most number of households with at least one senior citizen

The largest percentage of households with at least one senior citizen was found in Southern Tagalog with a 14.48 percent contribution to the total number of households with senior citizens while the lowest was registered in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with 1.70 percent. A number of households with senior citizens was also found in Central Luzon (10.63 percent), NCR (10.35 percent), and Western Visayas (10.22 percent).

Based on the regional totals, Region I had the highest percentage (29.34 percent) of households with senior citizens. Western Visayas (28.13 percent) and Eastern Visayas (27.43 percent) followed. Meanwhile, in ARMM, only 14.44 percent of the region�s households had one or more senior citizens.

Nine out of ten households of senior citizens resided in single houses

Most of the households with at least one senior citizen occupied single-type housing units (91 percent). Others lived in duplex (3.05 percent) and multi-unit residential buildings (4.37 percent). Others (0.3 percent) resided in commercial/industrial/agricultural, institutional living quarters, or other types of housing units.

Three in ten households of senior citizens resided in housing units with roofs made of galvanized iron/aluminum and outer walls made of concrete/brick/stone

In 2000, about seven in ten (71.62 percent) households of senior citizens resided in housing units with roofs made of galvanized iron/aluminum, 19.25 percent with cogon/nipa/anahaw, 4.44 percent with half galvanized iron and half concrete, and the rest with tile/concrete/clay tile, wood, asbestos, or makeshift/salvaged/improvised materials.

One-third of households of senior citizens (32.94 percent) resided in houses with outer walls made of concrete/brick/stone, the rest in housing units with outer walls made of wood (21.38 percent), half concrete/brick/stone and half wood (21.88 percent), and bamboo/sawali/cogon/nipa (19.56 percent).

Households of senior citizens that resided in housing units with roofs made of galvanized iron/aluminum and walls made of concrete/brick/stone accounted for 31.08 percent, while those with roofs made of galvanized iron/aluminum and walls made of half concrete/brick/stone and half wood accounted for 17.43 percent.

Majority of the housing units of senior citizens needed minor repair or no repair at all

Most of the households of senior citizens (69.50 percent) lived in houses of good condition, that is, needed minor repair or no repair at all. The proportion which needed major repair was recorded at 19.16 percent, 4.60 percent with unfinished construction, and the remaining 3.83 percent with on-going construction, renovation or already dilapidated/condemned.

Three in five (60.02 percent) households of senior citizens were in houses built after 1980 and about one in three (35 percent), earlier than 1981.

Median floor area was 26.9 square meters

More than half of the households of senior citizens (51.89 percent) were in housing units with floor area less than 30 square meters, 27.34 percent with 30 to 69 square meters, and 18.27 percent with 70 square meters and over.

The median floor area of housing units of households of senior citizens was 26.9 square meters. This means that half of the households of senior citizens resided in housing units that had a floor area below 26.9 square meters.

Almost two-thirds of households of senior citizens owned/amortized their housing units

Nearly two in three households of senior citizens (64.97 percent) owned or amortized the housing units they occupied, 21.03 percent had a rent-free arrangement with the consent of owner, 6.96 percent rented the housing units, and 2.02 percent had a rent-free arrangement without the consent of owner.

Source:  National Statistics Office
                Manila, Philippines
 
Page last revised:   March 18, 2005