Republic of the Philippines

Philippine Statistics Authority

Regional Statistical Services Office VI

SPECIAL RELEASE
Women and Men in Western Visayas
Date of Release: March 30, 2020
Reference No: 2020-SR03
Explanatory Notes
This special release presents selected information on Women and Men in Western Visayas. Data provided in this special release
were taken from the latest available data from latest census and various surveys of Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and other
data sources from various government agencies.

Population
Region VI had a total population of FIGURE 1. Population Pyramid, Region VI: 2015
7,536,383 in 2015. Of the total population in
Western Visayas for that year, 50.8% were
males and 49.2% were females. This
resulted in a sex ratio of 103 males per
100 females.
As of 2015, the estimated median age of
the total population in Western Visayas was
at 24.6 years. This means that half of the
population was younger than 24.6 years
old. The region’s median age for females
was at 25.2 years, while for males was
24.1 years. Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

Western Visayas has a relatively young population. This is evident in the broad lower-middle
base of the population pyramid. Of the total population in 2015, nearly a third (30.8%) were
under 15 years old.

TABLE 1 Total Population by Sex and by Among the provinces and highly urbanized
Province/City, Region VI: 2015
cities in the region, Negros Occidental
registered the largest population for both the
men and women in Western Visayas.

About 220,768 (18.3%) and 276,881 (17.8%)

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2015 Census of Population
of the total male population in the provinces of
Iloilo and Negros Occidental were from their
respective capitals of Iloilo City and
Bacolod City. As for the females in these
provinces, 227,224 (19.3%) and 284,994
(9.0%) female population were from Iloilo City
and Bacolod City, respectively.
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Of the 5,985,537 population FIGURE 2 Total Population 10 Years Old and Over by
ten years old and over in the region, Marital Status and by Sex, Region VI: 2015
2,692,171 or 44.98 percent were
never been married while 2,475,630
or 41.36 percent were married. The
rest of the population were
categorized as follows: 430,321
common-law/live-in marital
arrangement (7.19 percent),
320,270 were widowed (5.35
percent), and 65,362 were
divorced/separated (1.09 percent).

It was also revealed that during

2015, there were more single men
than women in the region. Source: Philippine Statistics Authority

FIGURE 3 Projected 2020 Mid-Year Population based on the The mid-year population in
2015 POPCEN, Region VI: 2015
Western Visayas is projected to
reach 7,904,899 by 2020. All
provinces in the region are
expected to increase in
population with varying rates of
growth. In terms of population
growth by sex, it was projected
that the men will consistently
outnumber women in all the
provinces in the region. Among
all the provinces in the region,
Guimaras was projected to have
the highest sex ratio with about
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2015 Census-Based National,
Regional and Provincial Population Projections 105 males per 100 females.

Youth
The youth population TABLE 2 Youth Population by Youth Group and Sex, Region VI: 2015
(population aged 15-30
years old as stated in RA
8044) comprised 28.4%
of the total population in
Western Visayas. A total
of 1.1M young men and
1.0M young women were
reported in the region.
This is lower than the Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2015 Census of Population
national youth composition
of 29.3%. Among the youth groups, the core youths aged 18-24 contributed the largest
proportion of youth in the region with 45.73%.
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Employment
As of July 2019, 62.1 percent TABLE 3 Percent Distribution of Population 15 Years Old and Over by
of the total population Employment Status of Women and Men, Region VI: July 2019
nationwide aged 15 years old
and over were reported to be
in the labor force.

About 7.3 percent of the total

individuals nationwide in the
labor force were from
Western Visayas, of which
38.8 percent were women
and 61.2 percent were men.
Note: Details may not add up to totals due to rounding. (number in thousands)
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, July 2019 Labor Force Survey

The employment rate in the region was 94.2%. It was estimated that 39.5% of all employed
individuals were women and 60.5% were men.

TABLE 4 Percent Distribution of Employed Persons by Sex and

Major Occupation Group, Region VI: July 2019
Women in Western Visayas were
more likely to be working as
Service and sales workers,
Elementary occupations workers,
and Managers and professionals.
Meanwhile, the men tended to be
more involved in Elementary
occupations, Skilled agricultural,
forestry, and fishery works, and
Service and sales works.
Note: Details may not add up to totals due to rounding. (number in thousands)
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, July 2019 Labor Force Survey

FIGURE 4 Percent Distribution of Employed Persons by

Total Hours Worked and Sex, Region VI: July 2019
Male workers in the region accounted the
larger share in the proportion of workers
across all the weekly working hour
categories. The share of the workforce
usually working 40 hours or more was
59.3 percent for the males and 40.7
percent for the females. On the other
hand, for those that did not work, a
greater proportion of females were
recorded at 67.7%.

Note: Details may not add up to totals due to rounding.

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, July 2019 Labor Force Survey
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 Violence Against Women
Cases of violence against women in the region fall to its lowest level since 2013. There were
1,850 combined cases recorded in 2018, down from a peak of 6,985 in 2015. About 85.14% of
these cases were violations of the RA 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and their
children (VAWC) Act of 2004. More than half (51.05%) of the RA 9262 cases were found to have
occurred in Iloilo (including Iloilo City). Second and third in rank were Negros Occidental
(including Bacolod City) (17.40%) and Capiz (12.89%).

FIGURE 5 Number of Reported Cases of Violence Against Wome, Region VI:

2013-2018

Source: Philippine National Police

FIGURE 6 Percentage of Married Women Aged 15-49

Marital control behaviors is one of the
That Experienced Marital Control Exercise from Husband,
indicators and manifestation of Region VI: 2017
violence against women. Figure 6
shows a list of behaviors that may
indicate a potentially violent partner
or spouse. The most common
controlling behaviors reported by
women are jealousy or anger if they
talk to other men (32.1%), and
spouses insisting or knowing where
they are at all times (24.4%). More
than one (1) in every ten (10) married
women in the region (10.3%) had
husbands who displayed three (3) or
more of these specific behaviors.
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, 2017 NDHS

Based on the findings of the 2017 National Demographic and

Health Survey (NDHS), one in every five (21.6%) women aged
15 - 49 has experienced some type of physical violence.

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 FIGURE 7 Percent Distribution of Women
Aged 15-49 Who Have Ever Experienced
Physical or Sexual Violence by Their
Help-Seeking Behavior, Region VI: 2017

Sought help
to stop violence In spite of the advancements in women
Never sought help,
never told anyone 34.6% empowerment and gender equality
44.5% over the past few years, more and
more women have refused to seek out
help to stop violence. As of 2017,
Never sought help it was shown that 44.5% of the women
but told someone who experienced violence never
21.0% sought out help and have never told
anyone about it.

Vital Statistics
FIGURE 8 Number of Registered Live Births by Sex,
Region VI: 2014 to 2018

In 2018, a total of 101,480 live births

were recorded in the region. More male
babies (52,761) were born in 2018
compared to females (48,719) which
resulted to a sex ratio of 108 male
babies per 100 females. Negros
Occidental (including Bacolod City) was
reported to have the highest number of Source: Field Health Services Information System, DOH – CHD
Note: DOH only generates Crude Birth Rate (CBR) for both sexes
live births for that year at 37,615.

TABLE 5 Number of Registered Live Births by Sex and by Province, Region VI: 2014 to 2018

Source: Field Health Services Information System, DOH – CHD

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FIGURE 9 Number of Births by Attendant at Birth, Region VI:
2018

Figure 9 shows the number of births

by attendant at birth in the region for
the year 2018. A remarkable
proportion of births about 94.8% were
attended to by skilled health
professionals. This indicates the
improvement on health services in
terms of maternal and child health
care throughout the
Source: Field Health Services Information System, DOH – CHD region.

TABLE 6 Number and Rate of Registered Deaths and Infant Deaths by Province/City, Region VI: 2018

Source: Field Health Services Information System, DOH – CHD

Note: DOH only generates Crude Birth Rate (CBR) for both sexes
Death rates were computed per 1,000 population
Infant death rates were computed per 1,000 live births
Maternal death rates were computed per 1000,000 live births

The number of deaths in the region reached 45,708 in 2018 with a crude death rate
(CDR) of 5.77. This was translated to about six (6) deaths per thousand
population. An estimated 125 persons died daily in Western Visayas on average
during that year.
Infant mortality among the males was found to be higher than that of the females
in 2018. The computed infant mortality rate in Western
Visayas is 11.02. This means that about 11 infants under
1 year old died for every 1,000 live births. Among other
provinces in the region and highly urbanized cities, Bacolod
City posted the highest infant mortality rate with about
22 deaths per 1,000 live births.

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Health
TABLE 7 Number and Rate of Top 10 Leading Causes of Deaths by 5-Year Average from 2013-2017 and 2018
by Sex, Region VI: 2018
5 year Average 2018
CAUSES (2013-2017) REGIONAL TOTAL
NO. RATE Male Female Total RATE
HYPERTENSIVE CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
(HCVD) 11,658 153.38 5,980 4,985 10,965 140.78
PNEUMONIA 8,908 117.19 4,446 3,687 8,133 104.42
NEOPLASM 4,173 54.90 2,148 2,229 4,377 56.20
INJURIES 2,438 32.07 2,096 565 2,661 34.17
RENAL DISEASES 2,120 27.89 1,367 933 2,300 29.53
CEREBRO VASCULAR ACCIDENT (CVA) 1,586 20.87 989 788 1,777 22.82
TUBERCULOSIS 1,764 23.20 1,201 510 1,711 21.97
DIABETES MELLITUS 1,388 18.26 853 763 1,616 20.75
CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE
(COPD) 1,464 19.27 1,076 387 1,463 18.78
UNSPECIFIED CAUSE OF MORTALITY 549 744 1,293 16.60
Source: Field Health Services Information System, DOH – CHD
Note: Rates were computed per 100,000 population

Hypertensive cardiovascular disease (HCVD) was the top leading cause of

death in 2018 with 141 deaths per 100,000 population. HCVD has remained the
leading cause of mortality over the past 5 years. The second and third leading
causes of deaths in the region in 2018 were pneumonia and malignant
neoplasm or cancer with 104 and 56 deaths per 100,000 population,
respectively.

TABLE 8 Notifiable Diseases by Sex, Region VI: 2017

2017
Notifiable Disease
Male Female Total
ALRTI & Pneumonia 19,435 20,747 40,182
Hypertension 15,187 23,073 38,260
In 2017, Acute Respiratory ARI 56,496 67,791 124,287
UTI 6,552 11,827 18,379
Infections (ARI) were reported
Bronchitis 7,320 8,329 15,649
to have had the most cases
TB Respiratory 7,944 4,315 12,259
among all notifiable diseases Influenza 3,430 3,858 7,288
in the region affecting about Acute Watery Diarrhea 3,701 3,463 7,164
124,287 individuals in Western Chicken pox 815 778 1,593
Visayas. Dengue Fever 357 298 655
Source: Field Health Service Information Service, DOH – CHD

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Agricultural Wage Rates

Throughout Western Visayas, the

TABLE 9 Palay: Daily Nominal Wage Rates of Farm Workers by Sex
daily nominal wage rates of male
and Region, Philippines: 2016-2018 (in Pesos)
farm palay workers averaged at
about P307.54 per day in 2018.
This was considerably higher than
their daily nominal wage rates in
2016 and 2017. Daily nominal
wage rates among female farm
palay workers also showed an
increase of about P28.54 per day
as compared to that of the previous
year. Compared to the national
wage rate of farm palay workers in
2018, the nominal
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, Trends in Agricultural Wage Rates 2016-2018
wage rates of male
and female farm palay workers in the region was lower by about P22.32 and
P18.22, respectively.

The average daily TABLE 10 Corn: Daily Nominal Wage Rates of Farm Workers by Sex
n o m i n a l and Region, Philippines, 2016-2018 (in Pesos)
compensation rates
among corn workers
in the region continued its
upward trend in 2018 at about
P277.17 and P236.20 for the Table 16 Corn: Daily Nominal Wage Rates of Farm
Workers by Sex and Region, Philippines, 2016-2018
male and female corn workers,
(in Pesos)
respectively. The average daily
nominal wage rate of male farm
corn workers in the region went
up by about P6.37 during 2018,
exceeding the national value of
P269.23. Similarly, an increase
was also recorded in the daily Source: Philippine Statistics Authority, Trends in Agricultural Wage Rates 2016-2018
nominal wage rates among female corn workers in the region. From an average nominal wage
rate of P222.87 during 2017, compensation among female corn workers in the region went up
by an average of about P13.33 per day in 2018.

MARLENE Y. ALVIAR
Officer-in-Charge
PSA RSSO VI

MGMN/MJVN/JXFB

J Villanueva Building, Iznart Street, Iloilo City, Iloilo, Philippines 5000

Telephone: (033) 335-0907 · Telefax: (033) 335-0316
Email: psareg06@gmail.com
http://rsso06.psa.gov.ph
www.psa.gov.ph
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