THE Philippines figures prominently in the world population report just issued by the United Nations.
The UN World Population Prospects 2019 says Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Philippines today have the largest migratory outflows as a result of the worldwide demand for migrant workers. Myanmar, Syria, and Venezuela are the biggest sources of migrants fleeing violence, insecurity, and armed conflict.
The world’s population today totals 7.7 billion. By the year 2050 – about 30 years from now – that figure will increase by two billion to 9.7 billion people. By the end of the century – or 70 years from now – there will be 11 billion people on this earth.
India will overtake China as the world’s most populous nation. Eight other countries will have the biggest population increases – Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Egypt, and the United States.
UN Undersecretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin said many of the fastest-growing populations are in the poorest countries. They will thus face bigger problems in eradicating poverty, in combating hunger and malnutrition, and in improving health care and education. For them population increase will be a big problem.
The Philippines has long had a population program but its main goal is to help Filipino women maintain optimum reproductive health, providing advice and medical assistance and procedures to help ensure that families have children that they can properly feed and educate and support until they themselves become productive members of society.
Our big population, which now stands at 108 million, has proved to be a positive note in a world of so many suffering overpopulated nations. This is because our people, well educated with professional skills and fluent in English, are in many countries which need them for the progress of their own economies.
Ultimately, our goal is to provide domestic employment for all Filipino who need it, so that they need not seek it in other countries. We are moving towards that goal with our current economic development program.
But in the meantime, we must be thankful that we have well-educated and well-trained Filipino workers sought and valued by other countries, while helping in our own national economic growth with their remittances.
