Demographics of the Philippines

According to Philippine government statistics and current census data, some 95% of the population is ethnically Malay, descendants of immigrants from the Indonesian archipelago, who arrived long before the Christian era. The most significant ethnic minority group are the Chinese, who have played an important role in commerce since the 9th century when they first arrived in the Philippines for trade. Mestizos, those of mixed race, form a tiny but economically and politically important minority. Small communities of expatriates, and Negrito forest tribes that inhabit the more remote areas of Mindanao, constitute the remainder.

In an effort to avoid constant conflict and disputes, other data compiled from a source which as yet remains unnamed will be mentioned. This unnamed source has placed the Malay component of the demographics of the Philippines to a reduced 70% of the population from the 95% agreed upon by Filipino government sources, recent Filipino census data and international static agencies. The remaining 30% is then claimed to be distributed by people of the following ancestries; Spanish 3% (c. 2.5 million); Indian 5% (c. 4.3 million); Arab 3% (c. 2.5 million); Chinese 10% (c. 8.6 million); Americans of any race 1% (c. 860 thousand); aboriginal Negrito 1% (c. 860 thousand); Japanese 1% (c. 860 thousand), other non-Malay tribal populations 5% (c. 4.3 million); all others 1% (c. 860 thousand).

The people of the Philippines are known as Filipinos. Throughout the colonial era the term "Filipino" originally referred to only the Spanish and Spanish-mestizo minority. The definition, however, was later changed to include the entire population of the Philippines regardless of ethnic origin. Ironically, the term now somewhat excludes the Spanish-mestizo minority who are perceived by some Filipinos, and by many Spanish-mestizos themselves, to be foreign.

Ethnic Groups

• Malays, accounting for 95%, they form the bulk of the population and number around 80 million. Many live poverty striken, though some can now be found among the middle class. Most are citydwellers, although a great number still live traditional lifestyles in the mountains and rural areas. The most numerous of these are the Tagalog, the Visayan and the Ilokano. Most speak tribal languages and/or Filipino (based on Tagalog), and the other major languages, again Visayan and Ilokano.

• Chinese, they form the most significant non-native element in the country. Most are successful and prosperous business people. They form part of both the upper and middle classes. Their primary languages are English, Chinese and Filipino. They number around 1.5 million, close to 2% of the population. Chinese-mestizos included they would number close to 3 million. [See also Chinese-mestizo]

• Mestizos, they form a tiny but economically and politically important minority. The combined number of all types of mestizos constitute no more than 2% of the entire Filipino population. Mestizos in the Philippines may be of any race combination or ratio. Mestizos are categorized as follows:
  • Spanish-mestizo, a combination of ethnic Malay with either Spanish, Basque or Mexican. They are light skinned, usually taller than the majority Malay-stock, and quite European looking. Spanish-mestizos speak Filipino, though English is their primary language. Some have preserved Spanish as the spoken language of the home. They constitute the great majority of the upper class and are extremely endogamous, rarely intermingling with those outside their ethnic group. A great majority are either in politics or high-ranking executives of commerce and industry and hold great control over the country's economy. An almost equally large number are also members of the entertainment industry, which they have saturated disproportionately. The biased favouritism responsible for their overwhelming presence in film and television is deeply-rooted on established Filipino "ideals of beauty" that are determine based on the possession of at least partial White ancestry, and which stem from colonial concepts [see Colonial Mentality]. They number around 1 million and are concentrated around Manila, a few others are established in metropolitan areas of Bacolod and Zamboanga.
  • Chinese-mestizo, a combination of ethnic Malay and Chinese. They are usually light skinned and quite mainland-Mongoloid in appearance, with highly epicanthic eyes. Much like the Chinese, most are successful and prosperous business people. They form part of both the upper and middle classes. Some are also in the entertainment industry. Their primary languages are English, Chinese and Filipino. They number just over 1 million and are most concentrated in Manila (Binondo) and Pampanga.
  • Japanese-mestizo, a combination of ethnic Malay with Japanese or Okinawan. Many are members of the lower class who are the descendants of the Japanese Catholics who fled Japan 300 years ago. Because of discrimination encoutnered, some fled to the mountains after World War II while many others changed their names in the attempts to assimilate. Many Japanese Mestizos have been killed after World War II Some have completely lost their Japanese identity and others yet have "returned" to the homeland of their forebears, Japan. There are also a number of contemporary Japanese-mestizos not associated with the history of the earlier established one. These latter are the resultant of unions between Filipinos and recent immigrant Japanese. Most Japanese-mestizos speak tribal languages and Filipino. There are believed to be between 100,000 and 200,000 Japanese-mestizos in the country, but no accurate figure is currently available. Significant numbers reside in Davao and surrounding areas.
  • American-mestizo, the offspring of ethnic Malay mothers and American [whether Caucasian, Latino/Hispanic-American or African-American] GI fathers. They are also known as Amerasians. They can be found in the upper class, but also amongst the middle and lower classes as a result of the abandonment of their American fathers upon completion of military service and subsequent withdrawal of US forces. Much like Spanish-mestizos, for those whose American ancestry was Caucasian or Latino/Hispanic-American, many have successfully pursued careers in the entertainment industry. The number of American-mestizos is thought to be between 20,000 and 30,000. Most speak Filipino and English.

• East Indians, they are mostly merchants and belong primarily to the middle class. There are approximately 30,000 East Indians. Most speak Filipino and Punjabi or Sindhi.

• Negritos, Aeta are the negroid pre-Malay inhabitants of the Philippines, closely related to the Papuans. They are also known as the Aborigines of the Philippines. They are the poorest and most disadvantaged segment of the Filipino population. Their numbers have been decreasing rapidly. They are thought to number between 20,000 and 30,000. Most speak their tribal languages and have little or no understanding of Filipino. The government has sponsored educational programmes as well as encouraging school attendance, though many of them still enounter difficulties.

Other smaller communities of expatriates from various countries also exist and they include; close to 50,000 Caucasians from Europe, America and Canada who sought economic and investment opportunities; some 35,000 Indonesians, most of whom are either illegal immigrants, refugees, but also many students; around 30,000 Japanese and Koreans who are mostly recently arrived immigrants also seeking economic and investment opportunities.

Religion

Main article: Religion in the Philippines

In the Philippines, religion plays almost a daily role in the lives of its citizens, regardless of belief or affiliation. More than 90% of the people are Christian; most were converted and Westernized to varying degrees during nearly 400 years of Spanish and American rule. Although colonial influence may be responsible for the introduction of Roman Catholicism to the islands, the records of the Spanish, and the indigenous traditions which still survive, provide evidence that the Negritos, Malays and others had a complex belief system that predates Spanish and 14th century Arab Muslim influences and includes the concept of a supreme creator. Upon this indigenous religious base, a process of cultural adaptation and synthesis began that is still continuing into the 21st century.

The vast a majority of the people are Christians (Roman Catholic 83%, Protestant 9%) and most were converted and Westernised to varying degrees during nearly 400 years of Western rule. A sizable Muslim minority (5%) exists predominantly on the island of Mindanao, while Buddhism and other faiths make up the remainder.

Language

Main article: Languages of the Philippines

A total of one hundred seventy-two native languages and dialects are spoken, all belonging to the Austronesian linguistic family. Since 1939, in an effort to develop national unity, the government has promoted the use of the official national language, Filipino, which is based on Tagalog. English is the predominant non-native language. Other foreign languages spoken are Chinese (Mandarin and Hokkien) among the Chinese and Chinese-mestizo population; Arabic among some members of the Muslim population; and Spanish preserved and spoken by some families within the Spanish-mestizo minority.

History

The Negritos are believed to be the aborigines of the Philippines. In 1911, they were described as follows:

• The men are about 4 ft. 10 in. average height, the women are shorter. Their colour is black, their skull decidedly round, their hair frizzy, their legs thin, their toes prehensile. They tatoo themselves and wear only a g-string. They have no fixed abodes but roam about in groups of a few families. They are skilful with the bow and in throwing stones, and they can easily kindle a fire, even in the wet season, by rubbing together two pieces of dry bamboo. Their food consisted principally of game, roots, and wild fruits. The women, who do all the work, collect wax and wild honey, which are their principal staples in trade. Few Negritos live to be fifty years of age.

The ethnic Malay came from the south, in successive waves of immigration beginning in pre-historic times. They are composed of 23 distinct groupings, varying widely in culture, language, and appearance. Their languages however belong to one common stock. The Moros were the last of the Malays to migrate to the islands; they came after their conversion to Islam. Slavery was common among them.

1903 census

In 1903 the population of the Philippines was 7,635,426, including 56,138 foreign-born. In the 100 years since the 1903 census, the population has grown by a factor of eleven.

By city or towns exceeding 10,000:

• Manila 219,928
• Laoag, Ilocos Norte 19,699
• Iloilo, Iloilo 19,054
• Cebu, Cebu 18,330
• Nueva Caceres (Naga City), Camarines Sur 10,021

There were 13,400 villages, nearly 75% of which had fewer than 600 inhabitants.

By race or ethnicity:

• Malay: 7,539,632 (98.7%)
• Chinese: 42,097 (0.6%)
• Mestizo: 15,419 (0.2%)
• Negrito: 23,511 (0.3%)
• Caucasian: 14,271 (0.2%) [Spaniards and White US Servicemen]
• Negro: 505 (0.01%) [Black US Servicemen]

The ethnic Malay population divided by language:

• Christian
  • Visayan: 3,219,030
  • Tagalog: 1,460,695
  • Ilocano: 803,942
  • Bicol: 566,635
  • Pangasinan: 343,686
  • Pampangan: 280,984
  • Cagayan: 159,648
• Muslim
  • Moro: 277,547
• Igorot
  • Igorot: 211,520

1941

In 1941 the estimated population of the Philippines reached 17,000,000. Manila's population was 684,000.

The number of Chinese living on the island had risen to 117,000. There were also around 30,000 Japanese living in the Philippines, with some 20,000 of them residing in Davao, Mindanao, and 9,000 Americans lived in Luzon.

By then, some 27% of the population could speak English as a second language, while the number of those able to speak Spanish had further fallen to 3%. Tagalog has been the official language (since 1937), though twice as many people spoke Visayan at that time.

Other information

Population: 86,241,697 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:

• 0-14 years: 36.2% (male 15,625,480; female 15,028,498)
• 15-64 years: 59.9% (male 25,206,467; female 25,485,482)
• 65 years and over: 3.9% (male 1,427,238; female 1,846,809) (2003 est.)

Median age:
total: 21.8 years
male: 21.3 years
female: 22.4 years (2002)

Population growth rate: 1.92% (2003 est.)

Birth rate: 26.3 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)

Death rate: 5.6 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 1 male(s)/female (2003 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 24.98 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 21.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2003 est.)
male: 27.9 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 69.29 years
male: 66.44 years
female: 72.28 years (2003 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.29 children born/woman (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 9,400 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 720 (2001 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Filipino
adjective: Philippine

Ethnic groups: Christian Malay 91.5%, Muslim Malay 4%, Chinese 1.5%, other 3%

Religions: Roman Catholic 83%, Protestant 9%, Muslim 5%, Buddhist and other 3%

Languages: two official languages - Pilipino (based on Tagalog) and English; eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligayno, Bikol, Waray-Waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 95.9%
male: 96%
female: 95.8% (2003 est.)

Related articles

• Philippines
• Culture of the Philippines
• Languages of the Philippines