The average annual population growth rate (PGR) in the Philippines between 1995 and 2000 was 2.0 %. The total population as of May 1, 2000 was placed at 75.3 million, an increase of 6.7 million over the 1995 results.

Preliminary results of the Census 2000 were presented to His Excellency Joseph E. Estrada, in time with the celebration of the 60^th anniversary of the National Statistics Office. According to NSO Administrator Tomas P. Africa, Batas Pambansa Blg. 72 mandates the NSO to release the population count by barangay before the end of the Census year. However, this census quick count (QC) by province was released two (2) months after the culmination of census field operation.

QC results by region are:

The Southern Tagalog Region (Region IV) had the highest PGR among the16 regions of the country. With the annual growth rate of 2.8%, its population stretched to 11.3 million, surpassing the 1995 results by 1.4 million.

Twenty-one (21) out of 78 provinces nationwide, excluding NCR, hit million(s) in terms of population count. Three (3) out of the 12 cities in NCR also qualified for the Millionaires’ Club. With a population count of 2.2 million, Quezon City was still the largest in terms of population. Manila and Kalookan City ranked second and third, respectively. Outside NCR, the only highly urbanized city qualified for the Millionaires’ Club is Davao City with a registered population of 1.1 million. The following table shows figures on the Millionaire provinces and cities.

Census QC results came from the field reports during the census operation. These were transmitted to the Central Office (CO) by the NSO’s District Statistics Officers (DSOs), from all over Philippines, using Handheld Personal Computers (HPCs) or palm tops. Data on HPCs/palm tops were transferred to desktop computers in NSO Provincial Offices and transmitted to the CO via the Internet.

Preliminary census counts are only estimates of the population. All CPH questionnaires from the different provinces will be transmitted to their respective Data Capture Centers (DCCs). At the DCCs, data on the questionnaires will be converted to computer images and readable (ASCII) data. Final population counts by barangay will be based on the processed data from the DCCs. It will be submitted to the President of the Philippines on or before the end of the census year for proclamation as the official population count for all purposes.