AGE AT MARRIAGE

Fertility reduction, lowering the number of average children a child-bearing woman will have in her
lifetime, is the practical way to slow population growth. The study presents anew some factors, not
just outright birth control, that can contribute to making a lower TFR achievable, even desirable. A
predominantly older female population and older age at marriage help curb fertility.
Education/employment by women makes time off from work due to childbearing much more costly. A
low IMR, which gives parents greater assurance that the children they will have will survive childhood,
also encourages them to opt for smaller families.
Age and age at marriage are the most important determinants of fertility in Pakistan. The effect of age
at marriage as a predictor is the strongest and the contribution of other socioeconomic predictors
does not diminish its effect. The findings have also shown that an increase in education, particularly
of women, can lead to a fertility decline. Wide differentials noted in the bivariate analysis for women's
education remained when adjusted for other predictors and covariate age. Even for employed
women, education is an important factor for any change in reproductive behaviour. Differentials in
fertility levels have also been observed by household economic status of women. Fertility levels have
been found much lower among upper economic class, followed by middle and lower class women.
Age at First Birth. Fertility rates would be even higher if Filipino women did not have a pattern of late
childbearing. The median age at first birth is 23 years in the Philippines, considerably higher than in
most other countries. Another factor that holds down the overall level of fertility is the fact that about
9 or 10 percent of women never give birth, higher than the level of 3-4 percent found in most
developing countries. Source: The 1998 Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey
(NDHS) is a nationally-representative survey of 13,983 women age 15-49.
MORTALITY
Philippine Death rate: 5.15 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Year Death rate Rank Percent Change
Date of Information
2003 5.6
184
2003 est.
2004 5.47
183 -2.32 %
2004 est.
2005 5.47
181 0.00 %
2005 est.
2006 5.41
180 -1.10 %
2006 est.
2007 5.36
177 -0.92 %
2007 est.
2008 5.15
183 -3.92 %
2008 est.
Definition: This entry gives the average annual number of deaths during a year per 1,000 population
at midyear; also known as crude death rate. The death rate, while only a rough indicator of the
mortality situation in a country, accurately indicates the current mortality impact on population growth.
This indicator is significantly affected by age distribution, and most countries will eventually show a
rise in the overall death rate, in spite of continued decline in mortality at all ages, as declining fertility
results in an aging population.
Source: CIA World Factbook - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of
December 18, 2008