Central Visayas fourth in birth stats nationwide

CEBU, Philippines — Among 17 regions in the Philippines, Central Visayas positioned at fourth highest in birth statistics for the year 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-7 reported.

The region recorded a total of 117,335 registered births in 2023, contributing 8.10 percent to the Philippines' 1,448,522 total registered births for 2023.

Breaking it down into provinces, Cebu Province recorded the highest number of births among the provinces in Region-7, with 25,600 male and 23,498 female births.

This was followed by Negros Oriental with 10,449 male and 9,693 female births; and Bohol with 9,199 male and 8,825 female births.

Meanwhile, Siquijor registered the fewest births for both sexes, recording less than 600.

Moreover, Cebu Province accounted for 41.8 percent of all registered births in Central Visayas in 2023, with 49,098 births. Negros Oriental had 20,142 births (17.2 percent), followed by Bohol closely with 18,024 births (15.4 percent). Siquijor had the lowest registration figures, with 1,061 births (0.9 percent).

For the highly urbanized cities (HUCs) in the region, Cebu City led with 8,004 male and 7,203 female births with a contribution of 13.0 percent to the region's total births.

Next is Lapu-Lapu City with 4,218 male and 3,919 female births with 6.9 percent of the total, and Mandaue City with 2,941 male and 2,725 female births or 4.8 percent.

PSA-7 also highlighted that region-7 has more male births recorded than female births in 2023. There were a total of 60,941 male births, comprising 51.9 percent of the total compared to female births, which was at 56,394 or 48.1 percent.

In terms of monthly trends, October was the peak month for birth registrations in 2023, with 10,975 births. This was followed by September with 10,757 and January with 10,586.

Meanwhile, the fewest births were registered in February, totaling 8,803.

The PSA-7 noted that the data compiled came from events registered at city and municipal civil registrar offices and subsequently encoded at the Office of the Civil Registrar General.

The report reflects registrations from January to December 2023 and underwent initial processing as of August 31, 2024.

The figures they reported remain provisional and still subject for change.

Events involving Filipinos residing abroad were not included, but births of Filipinos and foreign nationals in the country during the reference period were accounted for in the PSA-7 2023 Birth Statistics Report. — (FREEMAN)