The population in the Philippines will be increasing at the rate of 200 babies for every hour this year, making the archipelago the most populated in Southeast Asia, local media said on Tuesday.

Filipinos now number around 84 million, the Manila Times reported, citing the Philippine National Statistical Coordination Board.

The population growth rate of the Philippines is above the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) average of 1.5 per cent and is higher than that of Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, said Romulo Virola, the board's secretary-general.

The Philippines is lower than that of the six other ASEAN countries, including Singapore, which is promoting childbirth among couples. Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar are the other members of the regional association.

Virola cited at least three reasons for the country's rising population, including the poor's lack of access to modern family- planning methods, their need for more children to do household chores or help in economic activities of the family, and their reliance on guidance from the Catholic Church on such methods, which the Vatican forbids.

In the latest population survey conducted in 2000, the population growth was 193 persons for every hour or three persons a minute. Available data from the 1990, 1995 and 2000 censuses show that the Philippine population grew annually by 2.32 per cent between 1990 and 1995, 2.36 per cent between 1995 and 2000, and 2.34 per cent between 1990 and 2000.

Based on the 2000 census, population projections put the country's growth rate at 1.97 per cent between 2006 and 2007, and at 1.95 per cent between 2007 and 2008. The mid-year 2008 population growth is projected at 90.45 million, or equivalent to a population density of 266 per square kilometer and an average population size of 2,154 for every barangay or village.

Source: CCMC Push Journal, 15 Jan 2008