Some two decades ago, the government’s economic managers expressed concern over the rapid increase in population in the…

Some two decades ago, the government’s economic managers expressed concern over the rapid increase in population in the country that put pressure on its education and health infrastructures.

To slow down that growth, Congress—over strong opposition from the Roman Catholic Church—enacted the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Act of 2012 that, among others, guarantees universal access to medically safe contraceptives and orders local government units to provide free family services and commodities to marginalized sectors.

Fast forward to 2025. Last week, the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) said the fertility rate in the country has gone down to 1.7 children per woman in 2025 from 1.9 in 2022 and has been continuously in decline since 1993.

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Those figures don’t jibe with what economic and population experts consider as the ideal fertility rate to maintain a stable population: 2.1 children per woman, which roughly represents replacement for parents and children who pass away early due to various reasons.

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CPD’s survey also showed that 57 percent of Filipino women no longer want to have children and that the use of contraceptives has been on the rise.

Judging from reports in print and social media, instead of having babies, a lot of Filipino women and many others elsewhere in the world prefer to have “fur babies” (cats or dogs) to lavish their attention on.

Of late, stores that sell food, vitamins and accessories for pets have boomed and many food outlets and hotels, in an effort to attract pet lovers, announce that pets are welcome in their premises.

For Pope Francis, this trend was unacceptable. He said choosing to have pets instead of children is a “form of selfishness” and that “replacing children with dogs and cats diminishes our humanity.”

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The decline in maternity breaks from the traditional Filipino belief that the place of a woman is in the home and that the proof of a fulfilled family life (or femininity) is bearing children. The more, the merrier.

Not anymore. Many educated Filipino women give priority to their professional growth and consider marriage as something that comes when it comes, but not something to aspire for with desperation.

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The high self-esteem of today’s Filipino women motivates them to break away from past prejudices and practices that once relegated them to the background and minimized their true worth.

They have broken the myth that some professional fields are reserved for men and that they are limited to playing a supporting role to them. There is no more room for the “you Jane, me Tarzan” concept that was once considered acceptable in Philippine society.

In many of the country’s prestigious companies, rare is the boardroom or management group that does not have women as directors or top executives.

Another traditional cultural standard that the “no babies” posture has shattered is the belief that having children ensures that somebody would take care of the parents in their old age or when they get sick.

This idea treats children as “investments” whose payoff is assumed to come or would be willingly given when the parents are no longer physically or financially capable.

Judging from the CPD survey, it looks like future-proofing through giving birth to children is not the way many Filipino women plan to manage their lives when they reach retirement age.

Besides, there is no assurance that even if they have children, the latter would willingly perform that anticipated filial duty and not wind up instead as a pain in the neck to aging parents.

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With the idea of babies as investment instruments out of the picture, unmarried women or double income, no kids families (or Dinks, as they are popularly described) may have to set aside sufficient funds to meet their financial and physical requirements by themselves when aging takes its natural course. INQ