Introduction

The population and poverty nexus is not new but remains an important development issue for many countries. In the Philippines, for instance, the debate on role of population growth and family size in development, in general, and poverty, in particular, is largely unresolved. Recent research has added the important dimension of vulnerability to poverty to the debate on the determinants of the welfare status of a population. Dercon (2005) has emphasized that vulnerability can even cause poverty. The issue of vulnerability has hardly been dealt with using Philippine data. This paper summarizes the empirical evidence, both from secondary sources and from the author’s own analyses, on the importance of family size in poverty and vulnerability to poverty.

The role of demographic changes in the development of the Philippines has been highlighted in many papers for a considerable period. While it has been credited as one of the earliest adopters of a strong population program in Asia, today its still has not resolved the population problem while her late adopting neighbors have successfully addressed the problem and turned to face other problems. Several papers came out recently to highlight the issue of the importance of demographic concerns in Philippine development. Herrin (2002) highlights the role of a clear population policy. Mapa and Balisacan (2004) have done simulations to show the benefits of just being able to generate the fertility reduction achieved by Thailand with all other things the same. Alonzo et al. (2004) highlighted the role of population in helping achieve the Medium- Term Development Plan objectives. Orbeta (2002) reviewed the implications of population concerns for the Philippine’s fight against poverty.

This paper draws together recent results using household survey data of the impact of family size on the various aspects of family welfare. In particular, it shows results of cross-tabulation and multivariate analyses of the role of family size on such areas as poverty incidence, vulnerability to poverty, as well as the underlying mechanism of savings, labor supply and earnings of parents and human capital investments. These results are expected to compliment the results of aggregate level analysis mentioned earlier and hopefully help complete the story of the role demographic changes in Philippine development.

The paper is divided as follows. The next section provides a brief context of the population and development issues in the Philippines. The succeeding section provides an empirical overview of the links between poverty and vulnerability to poverty and family size. The fourth section provides the result of cross-tabulation analyses between family size and the household welfare indicators. The results of the multivariate analyses are provided in the fifth section. The final section summarizes and provides the implications for policy.

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Comment(s)

There are [5] comment(s) for this entry. Post a comment.

1. Edgar
   (posted 01 August 2007 / 03:06:59 AM)
   
   I haven't really exhaustively read the discussion paper, just breezed through, so I might sound unfair, but I am now old enough to be highly distrustful of kneejerk reactions and conventional wisdom that suggest population is largely causative of family poverty. Has there not been enough research that large scale asset reform in highly skewed income distributive countries such as the Philippines is needed to industrialize a population and as a side effect put more females in the smokestack workforce? And this industrialization will lead to more families involuntarily spacing births? Come on, address land ownership first and produce indigenous jobs, rather than depending on migrant employment to create a surplus. Be more critical of theories that population is a major contributory factor to poverty.
2. krisjoy
   (posted 22 March 2007 / 03:27:52 PM)
   
   It's not enough to just be aware that we are poor. Since the government posted ambitious poverty reduction targets, then the average 'juan' will continue to think rice is special for more years. I think what we need is to work as a nation, achieving realistic marks for developments in agriculture, land reform, population planning, security issues, among others. I am young and I am earning; however, I feel very poor seeing that many of my fellowmen do not eat rice and that the tax I religiously pay does not get to projects.
3. MARIONNE
   (posted 06 March 2007 / 10:38:21 AM)
   
   poverty is a very hard opponent. if we want to have even a wee bit of development in our poor country, the government must see to it that poverty is lessened.
   tnx...
4. Junior
   (posted 01 March 2007 / 09:05:08 PM)
   
   In our country corruption is the number one cause of poverty thanks.
5. john
   (posted 11 July 2006 / 05:43:07 PM)
   
   Yes! It is evident here in the philippines
   because, as we can see now it is our problem ....thats all.