Explanatory Notes

This special release presents data on births which occurred in 2004 and were registered from January 2004 to March 2005. Birth statistics were obtained from the Certificates of Live Birth (Municipal Form 102) transmitted by the City/Municipal Civil Registrars to the National Statistics Office. The data exclude those that were not registered and/or those registered after March 2005.

Three babies are born every minute

Live births in 2004 numbered 1,710,994. This translated to 4,675 babies born per day, 195 births per hour, or three babies born per minute.

More males (890,130 or 52%) than females (820,864 or 48%) were born for a sex ratio of 108 males per 100 females. Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) had the highest sex ratio of 110 while Soccsksargen got the lowest with 106.

The National Capital Region (NCR) used to have the highest CBR. In 2004, however, it ranked only second to Central Visayas with a rate of 25.2. Central Visayas registered a CBR of 25.9, while the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had a CBR of 5.1, the lowest among regions.

Crude birth rate is 20.7

The crude birth rate (CBR) for 2004 was computed at 20.7 live births per 1,000 midyear population, slightly higher than the 2003 CBR of 20.6.

September surpasses October in birth occurrences

September had the highest number of birth occurrences in 2004 with 167,223 or 9.8 percent of the total. This translated to a daily average of 5,574 and a daily index of 119.2. October, which was on top for five consecutive years (1999 to 2003) came in second with 165,183 births, representing 9.7 percent of the total. This resulted to a daily average of 5,328 and a daily index of 114.

The lowest birth occurrences was still in February with 122,168 or 7.1 percent of the total, translating to a daily average of 4,213 and a 90.1-daily index.

Seven out of 10 births are medically attended

Mothers’ concern for healthy pregnancy was clearly reflected on the recorded facts as most births were attended to by qualified medical staff. A total of 1,157,443 births (67.6%) were assisted by trained medical practitioners such as physicians, nurses, and midwives. Other attendants, including traditional hilots assisted in the birth of 547,356 babies (32.0%).

Almost nine out of 10 mothers (89.4%) who gave birth in the NCR were facilitated by qualified medical staff. Other regions where more than sixty percent of deliveries were attended to by medical workers were Central Luzon (85.2%), Ilocos (78.6%), Calabarzon (75.5%), Cordillera Administrative Region (70.2%), and Central Visayas (67.6%). On the other hand, more than sixty percent of births in Caraga (61.3%) and Mimaropa (61.2%) were attended to by nonmedical attendants.

Median age of fathers is four years more than the median age of mothers

The modal age group of mothers was 20-24 years with 482,630 live births or 28.2 percent of the total. The number of births born to teenage mothers, on the other hand, was 135,429 or 7.9 percent of the total. Babies born to menopausal mothers 45 years old and over numbered 8,639 (0.5%). The median age of mothers who gave birth in 2004 was computed at 27.5 years.

The modal age group of fathers, meanwhile, was at age group 25-29 years with 442,031 or 25.8 percent of the total live births. Teenage fathers and those fathers aged 50 years old and over shared 28,114 (1.6%) and 24,819 (1.5%), respectively, to the total births. The median age of fathers was 31.2 years, or about four years more than the median age of mothers.