A. Children Ever Born Alive

Ever-married women aged 45 to 49 years have an average of three children

The MIMAROPA Region had 539,345 ever-married women (EMW) aged 
15 to 49 years according to the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (2020 CPH). These women have born 2.4 children on the average. The region’s mean children ever born (CEB) is higher than the country’s mean CEB of 2.2 children. As expected, EMW belonging to the age groups 40 to 44 years and 45 to 49 years had much higher mean CEB than younger women. On the average, women in the region would have had 3.4 to 3.6 children by the time they have reached the end of their reproductive or childbearing years. (Table 1)

Table 1. Ever-Married Women Aged 15-49 Years, and Mean Number 
of Children Ever Born by Age Group: MIMAROPA Region, 2020

Women in Occidental Mindoro and Romblon post the highest average of children ever born

Across the region, four provinces had a mean CEB higher than the regional figure. The provinces of Occidental Mindoro and Romblon were the highest among these provinces each with an average of 2.6 children. These were followed by Marinduque and Palawan excluding the City of Puerto Princesa each with an average of 2.5 children. (Table 2 and Figure 1)

Table 2. Ever-Married Women Aged 15-49 Years, and Mean Number of Children Ever Born by Province and Highly Urbanized City: MIMAROPA Region, 2020

B. Children Still Living

Women aged 40 to 49 years have an average of three living children

The mean number of living children for all EMWs aged 15 to 49 years increases as women get older. On the average, EMWs in the MIMAROPA Region had 2.7 children still living, aggregating to about 1.29 million children. Among provinces in the region, EMWs aged 15 to 49 years in Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Palawan (excluding the City of Puerto Princesa) and Romblon posted an average of 2.8 children still living. These provincial averages are higher than the regional average. (Table 3 and Table 4)

C. Children Ever Born Alive in the Past 12 Months

Ever-married women aged 25 to 29 years posts the highest number of children ever born in the past year

A total of 56,408 EMWs aged 15 to 49 years had at least one CEB within 01 May 2019 to 30 April 2020. This comprises 11.8 percent of 477,785 ever-married female MIMAROPAns 15 to 49 years old and have children still living. In addition, more than nine in every ten or 91.6 percent of these women in the region had exactly one child in the past 12 months, while those women with two or more children CEB constitutes the remaining 8.4 percent. (Table 5)
 

Among age groups, EMWs’ age within 25 to 29 years and 20 to 24 years had the highest representation to the total number of EMWs 15 to 49 years old in the region with at least one CEB alive within 01 May 2019 to 30 April 2020. In particular, 13,644 EMWs 25 to 29 years old had 24.2 percent contribution to the regional total number of EMWs with at least one CEB alive in the last 12 months. This was followed by 13,603 EMWs 20 to 24 years old with 24.1 percent share.  (Table 5 and Figure 2)

On the other hand, only 2,093 EMWs 45 to 49 years had at least one CEB alive in the past 12 months. This age group had the smallest contribution to the regional total at 3.71 percent. (Table 5 and Figure 2)
 

Three in every ten ever-married female MIMAROPAns with at least one child ever born alive in the past year are in Palawan

Among provinces in the region, Palawan excluding the City of Puerto Princesa had the highest representation of EMWs 15 to 49 years old who had at least one within 01 May 2019 to 30 April 2020. This was reported by 17,415 EMWs in Palawan or 30.9 percent of the total EMWs in the region with at least one CEB alive in the past 12 months. This was followed by Oriental Mindoro with 14,661 EMWs 15 to 49 years with at least one CEB alive in the past 12 months, which the province had a share of 26.0 percent.  (Table 6 and Figure 3)

On the other hand, Romblon had the lowest prevalence of EMWs 15 to 49 years old with at least one CEB alive within the past year at 8.6 percent. In the City of Puerto Princesa, 4,841 EMWs 15 to 49 years old had at least one CEB alive in the last 12 months with a corresponding share of 8.6 percent. (Table 6 and Figure 3)
 

D. Age at First Marriage

Median age at first marriage among ever-married women increased by 0.5 year

In 2020, the median age at first marriage among EMW aged 15 to 49 years was 21.7 years, an increase of 0.5 year compared with the 21.2 years posted in 2010. The age at first marriage refers to the age of the woman when she first got married or lived in a consensual union. (Figure 4)

By age group, the median age at first marriage of women aged 15 to 19 years was 17.8 years. It increased to 19.4 years among women aged 20 to 24 years further to 22.9 years among women aged 45 to 49 years. The same trend holds but with slightly lower values of the median age at first marriage of women in 2010. (Figure 4)

City of Puerto Princesa posts the highest median age at first marriage with 23.1 years

Two provinces and one highly urbanized city in the region had a median age at first marriage higher than the regional figure of 21.7 years. These were City of Puerto Princesa with 23.1 years, and the provinces of Marinduque and Romblon with 22.8 years each. Meanwhile, Palawan excluding the City of Puerto Princesa had the lowest median age at first marriage at 20.9 years. (Figure 5)
 

The statistics presented in this press release are based on the information provided by the respondent or any responsible household member who answered the questions and gave correct information about all the household members.

The data on fertility indicators were collected for all females aged 15 to 49 years from a sample 20 percent of the total number of households using CPH Form 3 (Sample Household Questionnaire) and CPH Form 7 (Self- Administered Questionnaire for Sample Household):

a.    Number of Children Born Alive (“How many children have been born alive to __?”),
b.    Number of Children Still Living (“From among the children who have been born alive to __, how many are still living?”),
c.    Number of Children Born Alive from May 1, 2019, to April 30, 2020 (“From among the children who have been born alive to __, how many were born alive from 
May 1, 2019, to April 30, 2020?”); and
d.    Age at First Marriage (“What was __’s age at first marriage?”)

(SGD) LENI R. RIOFLORIDO
Regional Director

MLLM / OHG / RRL