GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 28 July)—One in two fertile married women in the Soccsksargen Region prefer not to have more children, results of the 2022 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) showed.
Ma. Eileen Berdeprado, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)–Soccsksargen chief statistical specialist who presented the 2022 NDHS, said that 49% of married women aged 15 to 49 in the region do not want more children.
Seventeen percent of them want to delay the next birth for at least two years while 14% want to have another child within two years, she added.
Berdeprado reported that 9% of females are sterilized, 8% are undecided and less than 1% want a child but undecided when.
For the same age group of married women, the total fertility rate in Soccsksargen was 2.5 children per woman for the three-year period preceding the survey, which was less than the Philippines’ 1.9 fertility rate, data showed.
If fertility were to remain constant at current level, a woman in Soccsksargen would bear an average of two or three children in her lifetime.
Berdeprado explained that total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman would have by the end of her childbearing years if she bore children at the current age-specific fertility rates.
Fertility rate in Mindanao was highest in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at 3.1 followed by Zamboanga Peninsula at 2.6 and Soccsksargen at 2.5.
For Caraga Region, the fertility rate was 2.3, 2.1 in Northern Mindanao and 1.8 in Davao Region, data showed.
For contraception methods, 24% of married women in the region use pills, 6% resort to withdrawal, 6% on intrauterine device or IUD, 5% on female sterilization, 5% on injectables, 4% on implants, 3% on rhythm, 2% on lactation amenorrhea method or LAM, and 1% on male condom.
For birth delivery in Soccsksargen, eight in 10 were delivered by a skilled provider, which includes doctors, midwives and nurses, data showed.
Atty. Maqtahar Manulon, PSA XII regional director, said they disseminated the survey results to help policy-makers in the region design strategies involving population programs for their constituents.
The survey was disseminated to the public during a forum on Wednesday in Koronadal City.
Soccsksargen or Region 12 comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong and Kidapawan. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
