Half of pregnancy in PH unintended — report

MANILA, Philippines — Around half of pregnancies in the Philippines are unintended, similar to that of the global average, the United Nations Populations Fund (UNPFA) has reported.

The UNPFA report, released during the launch of the 2022 State of the World Population in Quezon City on Wednesday, revealed that 51 percent of all pregnancies in the Philippines between 2015 and 2019 were unintended.

This is close to the world average since almost half or roughly 121 million pregnancies in the world are also unintended, according to the UNFPA report.

The report also stated that the Philippines has ranked 56th among 150 countries in terms of unintended pregnancies at 71 per 1,000 women every year.

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Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) executive secretary Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III also cited a study from UNFPA and UP Population Institute which predicted that the country may have had another 200,000 unintended pregnancies during the COVID-19 pandemic “if the lockdowns continue.”

“We averted that,” Perez said during his presentation, citing Popcom’s initiatives like mobilizing the local government for the distribution of contraceptives like pills and condoms to Filipino families.

The live births in the Philippines actually posted their biggest drop in 2020 even as the COVID-19 pandemic locked down millions of Filipinos at home.

READ: Births in PH dropping sharply amid pandemic

In January, the Philippine Statistics Authority said 1.53 million live births were registered in 2020, down 8.7 percent from 1.67 million in 2019 or the pre-pandemic year.

Babies born in 2020 fewest in 34 years

Teenage pregnancy numbers down by 10% in 2020 down, PopCom says