With some two million Filipino babies born annually, the country’s population will grow to 94 million this year, PopCom executive director Tomas Osias said. This increase, which represents a population growth rate (PGR) of 2.04 percent, is quite high, considering that Thailand’s PGR is less than one percent. Osias claimed the country’s ideal PGR is less than one percent to effectively match the economic growth rate. “We have to manage our population by providing couples with informed choice. All medically safe and ethically accepted family planning methods must be available to them,” he said.
