The country of the Philippines is a collection of islands, each with its own people and communities. The influences of Spanish and American colonization did a lot to homogenize (make the same or similar) these different cultures. Struggles against these powers, as well as against the Marcos regime, unified the islands and brought forth the first real signs of nationalism. These influences and the long history of the Filipino people have created a diverse blend of cultures with certain common themes. In this chapter, you will learn about the people of the Philippines and their national culture, as well as the ethnic cultures that are still present. Generalizations about Filipino society as a whole will be made, and the different ethnic, economic, and religious groups that make up that society will
be described.
Philippine Society
An estimated 85 million people live in the Philippines. It is
amazing to realize that, although the country is about the size of the state of New Mexico, the Philippines has nearly 50 times New Mexico’s population! Population density is a good measure of how crowded a country is, because it is the population size divided by the amount of space that population lives in. With a population
density of about 725 per square mile (255 per square kilometer), the Philippines is one of the more crowded countries in the world. Not only does the Philippines have a large population for its size, but its population is growing very rapidly. Population growth is measured by the number of new people added to the population
each year minus the number who have left or died. The population growth rate in the Philippines is currently about 2 percent, which is also one of the higher growth rates in the world. This is over twice the United States’ growth rate (.9 percent). There are two main reasons Filipinos give for having many children. Catholic beliefs suggest that birth control is against the will of God, and most Filipinos are Catholic. Also, like people in many Asian countries, Filipinos want as many children as possible to secure their future well-being. More children means more helpers in the fields and more protection for parents in their old age.
The age structure of Filipinos is skewed toward the younger generations. More than half of the 85 million Filipinos are under the age of 20, and less than 7 percent of the population is over 65 years old. In the United States, only about a quarter of the population is under 20 years old, and 12 percent is over 65. Because overpopulation is becoming a concern in the Philippines, age structure of the current population is very important. Even if effective family planning programs are implemented, there will be a long lag time until the population levels off as this huge younger generation matures. It is a good thing that Filipinos seem so tolerant
of crowded conditions, because they are likely to be even more crowded in the future.
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