President Rodrigo Duterte has approved Proclamation 1179 declaring the Philippines’ official population count at over 109 million in 2020.

The Philippines had a total population of 109,035,343, as of May 1, 2020, according to the latest presidential proclamation inked on Tuesday,

The population count was based on the 2020 Census of Population and Housing conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in September 2020.

The latest figure was higher than the 2015 population, which stood at 100,981,437.

Last year’s population count was up by 8,053,906 from the population count recorded in 2015.

Duterte, under Proclamation 1179, declared as “official for all purposes the results of the 2020 Census of Population, placing the total population of the Philippines as of May 2020 at 109,035,343 persons, as shown in the ‘2020 Census of Population and Housing by Province, City/ Municipality and Barangay.”

PSA, by virtue of Republic Act (PSA) 10625 or the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, is responsible for all censuses and surveys, sectoral statistics, consolidation of selected administrative recording systems, and compilation of national accounts.

Section 6(b) of RA 10625 mandates the PSA to prepare and conduct periodic censuses on population, housing agriculture, fisheries, business, industry, and other sectors of the economy.

An integrated national census of population and other related data shall be taken every 10 years beginning 1980, with the first day of May of every regular census year as the reference date, according to Batas Pambansa 72 signed in 1980.

Executive Order 352 inked in 1996 also mandates the conduct of a census every 10 years to update the population count at the national level down to the village level. (PNA)