The number of babies born in the Philippines last year dropped to its lowest since 1986, while the country recorded a decline in the number of marriages also in 2020—the first year of the pandemic.

Citing data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in June, the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) said only 1,516,042 births have been registered in the country last year, the lowest in 34 years when only 1,493,995 Filipinos were born.

This was also lower than the 1.675 million number of babies born in 2019 which posted a decrease in births by 9.43 percent year-on-year.

The same report also showed that only 240,183 couples tied the knot last year—almost half of the 431,972 marriages recorded in 2019 and the lowest in 20 years.

POPCOM Executive Director and Undersecretary for Population and Development (POPDEV) Juan Antonio Perez III attributed the decline in the 2020 birthrate to the combined impacts of fewer marriages, women delaying pregnancies during the pandemic, and the increase in the number of couples using modern family planning methods to prevent unplanned pregnancies.

"What we feared at the onset of the pandemic did not happen. From the PSA numbers, it is clear Filipino women are deciding to delay having children, and families are deferring, or avoiding, to have more kids, as they were made well-aware of the possible hardships and inconveniences in securing medical, as well as family planning services, since the pandemic has severely impeded health-care systems," Perez said.

The POPCOM official said 400,000 more family planning services users were recorded last year, which brought to more than 8 million the number of protected Filipinos.

Meanwhile, Social Weather Stations’ November 2020 survey also showed that many Filipino women listed unintended or unplanned pregnancies as among their major concerns during the pandemic.

According to Perez, the downward trend in the number of marriages, pregnancies, and childbirths will likely continue this year based on the figures during the first quarter.

"The number of those who gave birth between January and March 2021 were at 268,000, compared with the normal trend of 350,000. If that continues, we can see an even smaller addition to the population by year-end," he explained.

However, Perez noted that there might be delays in the registry of births especially in remote provinces as midwives may have met difficulties in reporting them due to the pandemic.

Concerning the decline in the number of married couples, Perez said Filipinos have generally become more "informal" in their relationships.

The country's current fertility rate is also low at 2.5 births per woman from a high of six births in the 1960s.

But the POPCOM chief is optimistic that the situation will normalize and see a "possible rebound" after the pandemic, similar to what happened after the second World War.

"Filipinos will eventually learn to live with COVID-19. As such, we may see increased births after the era of COVID, with family planning helping couples avoid unplanned pregnancies, unlike in the late 1940s and 1950s when there was no family planning program," he added.