The country’s population is projected to top 105 million by the end of 2017.
Commission on Population executive director Juan Perez said Philippine population would go up to 105,758,850 by Dec. 31, 2017, based on Philippine Statistics Authority data.
“The continuing increase in population is due to relatively high fertility rate of Filipino women which is three children on average,” Perez noted.
By next year, PopCom also sees the number of schoolchildren to hit 31.5 million, the labor force at 66.7 million and population of those over 65 years at 5.2 million.
Based on PSA projections of 1,691,897 births in 2017, the number of Filipinos born per minute will go down to 3.22 births per minute next year.