In 1900 the population of the Philippines was 9,000,000 while in 1990 the count was 60,500,000, with 8,220,000 living in Metro Manila and the many suburbs that stretch beyond the more or less arbitrary boundaries of the metropolis. Fully 55 percent of the populace live on the island of Luzon. The population of the nation is increasing at about 1,200,000 annually, and about half the population is under 25 years of age. According to the statistics, the average life span is 63 years.

The rapid growth in population is a problem of increasing magnitude and concern and while the government does maintain population control centers in every city, these do little good because of the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church to abortion and any other methods but 'natural' birth control'. (This will frequently reduce childbearing to once a year.)

Filipinos love children and each birth is traditionally regarded as a blessing. A typical mother will have one walker, one toddler, one in arms and one in the hopper.

Due to the extended family concept of Filipinos it is not possible to state with any degree of accuracy the size of an average family. Any attempt to do so would find its limitation in the definition of the family. Different figures for the same 'family' will result depending on whether one wants to count just those living under one roof (ten to twenty) or those with first degree relationship (often twenty to thirty) or those an average Filipino regards as members of the family he belongs to (easily five hundred).

Ethnic Structure

The Country has 10 major cultural groups and many ethnic minority groups. Nine of the major cultural groups are of Malay extraction, while the tenth is Chinese. Eight of the major Malay groups have adopted Christianity. These include Tagalogs, Cebuanos, Hilongos, Warays, Ilocanos, Bicolanos, Pangasinense, and Pampangos. The ninth Malay group are the Muslim Filipinos or Moros, which are subdivided into ten major groups, some regarded as cultural minorities.

Aside from their distinct languages, the eight Christian Filipino-Malay groups only partly differ in culture. There are comparatively few disagreements among Filipinos based on belonging to different language groups. However, except for Manila which is a melting pot, all nine major Filipino-Malay groups have geographically distinct areas of settlement, whereas the Chinese are found in most communities. The Chinese are integrated to a much higher degree in the Philippines than in some neighboring Asian countries.

On the other hand, a large segment of the Muslim Filipinos decline to integrate into the mainstream Philippine society and is at war with the Philippine state.

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