The Philippines may record its slowest population growth this year as the total number of Filipinos is projected to increase by only 0.3 percent or 324,000 compared to 2020.

The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) called the 2021 record "historic," adding that this annual "natural increase" is the lowest in 75 years or since the period between 1946 to 1947 when the population grew by 254,000.

"Filipinos will number 109,991,095 at the end of 2021—lower by 2 million than earlier projections based on a 1.63% population growth rate or PGR," POPCOM said in its year-end report released on Monday, Dec. 27.

According to POPCOM, the natural increase in population or natural population change refers to the projection based on the number of births minus deaths in a particular time period.

The Commission said its computations were based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) vital statistics preliminary reports from January 2020 to August 2021.

POPCOM also noted that the natural increase in population in 2020 was 914,797 with reference to PSA's vital statistics, which placed the population at the end of 2020 at 109,667,216. The natural increase in population that year was 0.79 percent.

Meanwhile, POPCOM Executive Director Juan A. Perez III said Filipinos remain prudent by continuing to delay having children or forming families during the combined economic crisis and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"Couples in growing numbers continue to avail of family planning commodities and services in all regions of the country, with 8 million users of modern family planning methods in 2020—an addition of about 500,000 from 2019," he added.

Perez also emphasized that the last two years of low increases in population provide opportunities of attaining a more stable population that can support socio-economic development at the national and household levels if integrated population and development interventions are sustained.

He likewise noted that the low population growth from 2020 to 2021 enables a greater chance for the country and households to recover from the pandemic, given the government's increased capabilities in providing quality services to Filipinos.

"If integrated population and development measures are sustained, we can look forward to a more stable population that can effectively support Philippine development," the Population and Development (POPDEV) undersecretary explained.

"Smaller family sizes need to be supported by a national living wage structure that also allows parents to save for their households’ unmet needs in food, housing and education. Uneven regional wage structures only lead to individuals falling further behind than those in progressive areas such as the National Capital Region, CALABARZON, and Central Luzon," he said.

However, Perez bared that the agency's projected population for 2021 does not yet cover international migration during the year and that the civil registration data as reported by PSA is also subject to underreporting and late reporting.

He assured that POPCOM will update its projection as soon as data becomes available.