THE Cordillera Administrative Region’s (CAR) population remains to be one of the lowest in the country despite having grown to 1.7 million, based on the 2015 survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Population Commission (PopCom) Cordillera’s Job David Manalang said that despite the lowest population rate in the country, the region’s population continue to increase.
“The Cordillera population is very interesting because we remain to be the lowest, in 2015, we were at 1.72 million while the estimate of the Philippine Statistics Authority at present is that we are at 1.8 and little under 1.9 million in 2019,” Manalang said during the briefing for the observance of family week under the National Program on Population and Family Planning (NPPFP).
The PSA said the increase in the region’s population has an average growth rate of 1.2 percent annually from 2010-2015, with an increase of 105,139 compared to the 2010 Census of Population and Housing with 1,616,867 people.
Benguet remains a huge contributor to the region’s population with 25.97 percent followed by Baguio City (20.06 percent), and Abra (14 percent).
Apayao is one of the least populated provinces in the country having only 119,184 aside from posting the highest sex ratio of 109 males for every 100 females out of the total population.
Half of the region’s population is younger than 24.1 years old while the average household size is 4.33 persons in 2015.
“In CAR, we are not really growing by that much. In Mountain Province, during the last 2015 census, registered a .5% increase in population which is very rare. Maybe when it comes to total population in the Cordillera, the biggest problem that we have is where is the biggest bulk or part of the population which is Baguio and the surrounding areas of Benguet,” Manalang added.