NSO keen on gender distribution in population count
The National Statistics Office (NSO) said other than households characteristics, the office was keen on gender distribution in the official population count, as basis for the government's thrust in providing equal opportunities for women.
Ms. Connie Virgula, Statistician III of the NSO, said the NSO will pay particular interest on the matter as the government is also basing its service delivery and major program direction on gender participation in development activities.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said the latest World Economic Forum (WEF) gender gao inex placed the Philippines as sixth in rank in the world in providing equal opportunities for women
The WEF gender gap index also showed that Filipino women had achieved equality in educational attainment healthy life expectancy and they rated well on political empowerment as well as in other economic indicators like estimated income, labor force participation and income equality for similar work.
Brion said there are more women supervisors and executives than men in the last five years, noting that the gap widened since 2002. He attributed this to education, as more Filipino women employed in the country completed collge.
Meanwhile, the official release of the 2007 population count, based on the August 2007 census of population, will be out by February 2008, according to the NSO here.
Virgula said the regional census results have been already processed and will be validated for consistency in the national level within this period.
She also said the estimated projected regional population as generated, is 7.1 million, as compared to 6.2 million previously, in 2000, with a recent growth rate of 1.53 percent. The national population is estimated to be 88.7 million as compared to 76.3 in 2000, with an estimated growth rate of 2.56 percent.
Data of the census were taken from a total of 1.4 million households in the region after more than a month of house to house generation by more than 3,000 enumerators.
Virgula said they have not encountered any major setback during the data gathering, but they are exerting more effort in editing them for tests of consistency in the responses. (PIA 6)