WV population growth rate at sluggish 1.14%

The overall population of Western Visayas neared 8 million after a sluggish 1.14 percent growth between 2015 and 2020, based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing.

In an online presentation last Monday, Fred Sollesta, regional director of Philippine Statistics Authority Region 6 (PSA-6), reported that Western Visayas now has 7,954,723 residents as of May 1, 2020. This marked a 1.14 percent growth compared to 7,536,383 population in 2015.

According to Sollesta, this is one of the slowest population growth rates in the region since 1990, next to the 1.13 percent growth from 2010 to 2015.

“This is the second lowest population growth rate since 1990. The lowest rate was from 2010 to 2015 which marked a 1.13 percent population growth rate,” he said.

Meanwhile, there was a slight increase in the population density in the region at 383 per square kilometer compared to the population density in 2015 at 363. Population density refers to persons per square kilometer of land.

The province of Negros Occidental is the most populous area in the entire region with 2.62 million followed by Iloilo (2.62 million), Capiz (804,952), Antique (612,974), and Aklan (615,475).

Guimaras has the lowest population at 187,842 but it marked the highest population growth rate in the region at 1.45% followed by Aklan with 1.55%.

As to highly urbanized cities (HUCs), Bacolod City’s population is 600,783 while Iloilo City has 457,626 which means that for every 100 persons in the region, 13 are from the two cities.

Among the factors which contributed to the population growth of the region are fertility, access to health centers, schools, and economic opportunities.

The latest population census was proclaimed official through Proclamation Number 1179 which President Rodrigo Duterte signed on July 6, 2021. (ERS)