Statistical Terms

1. Fertility Rate
● Number of pregnancies per 1000 women of childbearing age
2. Birth Rate
● Number of Births per 1000 Population per year
3. Neonatal Death Rate
● Neonatal Period - during the 1st 28 days of life
● Number of deaths per 1000 live births occuring in the 1st 28 days of life
4. Infant Mortality Rate
● Number of deaths per 1000 live births in the first 12 mos of life
5. Childhood Mortality Rate
● Number of Deaths per 1000 population in children ages 1-14 y/o
6. Maternal Mortality Rate
● Number of maternal death per 100, 000 live births that occur as direct result of
reproductive process
1. FERTILITY RATE

Fertility rate is defined as, average number of children born to women during their
reproductive years. It can be described in terms of number of pregnancies per 1000 women of child
bearing age or the number of births per woman.

The fertility rate in the Philippines, one of only two predominantly Catholic nations in Asia,
has been falling since Congress enacted legislation in 2012 to provide universal and free access for all
citizens to nearly all modern contraceptives at government health centers.

According to the United Nations- World Population Prospect, the current fertility rate for the
Philippines in 2023 is 2.454 births per woman, a 1.01% decline from 2022 which was
2.479 births per woman. This data was true to women aged 15 to 49 years.

According to the demographic survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)
in 2022, the Philippines’ fertility rate has registered a continuous decline because of various factors,
including women’s empowerment and the easier access of Filipinos to family planning and birth
control. The PSA survey also found that half of the currently married women said they no longer
desire more children, “while 17 percent want to delay their next childbirths for two or more years.”
Lolito Tacardon, the executive director of the Commission on Population and Development said that
the COVID-19 pandemic has played a role in the country’s sharp decline in fertility due to anxieties
that attended the pandemic.
 In 2022, fertility is low among adolescents with 25 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19
years. It peaks at 105 births per 1,000 among women aged 25 to 29 years and then decreases
thereafter. According to Our World Data Population Division (2022), the fertility rate is likely to be
highest in this age group because a woman’s peak reproductive years are between the late 20’s to 30`s
and considered as the woman's sexual prime.

Moreover, according to the same survey done by the PSA in 2022, by area of residence,
women living in rural areas had a slightly higher total fertility rate of 2.2 children per woman as
compared to women living in urban areas with 1.7 children per woman.According to E Nebenfuhr
2018, in urban areas, fertility drops off as family income rises; however, this is not the case in rural
communities, where large families have typically earned more to provide the need for their children.
Moreover, another factor that contributes to this difference is the more accessible family planning and
educational differences between the two areas.

2. BIRTH RATE

Birth rate is the number of live births per thousand of population per year. It is the
ratio between the number of live-born births in the year and the average total population of
that year.
According to United Nations - World Population Prospects (2023), the current birth
rate for Philippines in 2023 is 19.579 births per 1000 people, a 1.01% decline from 2022.
The birth rate for Philippines in 2022 was 19.778 births per 1000 people,
 a 1% decline from 2021.
According to the demographic survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority
(PSA) in 2021, the number of registered live births showed a generally decreasing trend
showing a decrease of -23.8 percent in the registered live births noted in the past ten years,
from 1,790,367 in 2012 to 1,364,739 in 2021. According to Nargund (2022), fertility rates
tend to be higher in poorly resourced countries but due to high maternal and perinatal
mortality, there is a reduction in birth rates. In addition, social structure, religious beliefs,
economic prosperity, and poor access to prenatal care within the country are likely to affect
birth rates as well as abortion rates. Thus, the drop of fertility rate influence the declining
birth rate due to lifestyle choices associated with economic affluence and birth control is
easily accessible.

3. NEONATAL DEATH RATE

Neonatal mortality rate is the number of neonates dying before reaching 28 days of age, per
1,000 live births in a given year.

Neonatal mortality rate is the number of resident newborns in a specified geographic area
(country, state, county, etc.) dying at less than 28 days of age divided by the number of resident live
births for the same geographic area (for a specified time period, usually a calendar year) and
multiplied by by 1,000.