According to the data generated from the Decentralized Vital Statistics System (DVSS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Guimaras Provincial Statistical Office, the province of Guimaras registered 1,083 live births in the first quarter of 2024. Of these births, 54.11 percent or 586 births were female and 45.89 percent, or 497 births were male, with a gender gap of 8.22 percent or a sex ratio of 85 males to every 100 females.

In the first quarter of 2024, there was a slight increase of 0.09% in registered live births compared to the same period in 2023. The total number of live births rose from 1,082 in Q1 2023 to 1,083 in Q1 2024. Notably, female live births showed an upward trend, increasing from 561 in Q1 2023 to 586 in Q1 2024. In contrast, male live births experienced a decline, dropping from 521 in Q1 2023 to 497 in Q1 2024.

Registered Births by Municipality, Guimaras: Q1 2023 vs Q1 2024

In the first quarter of 2023, the municipality of Jordan was the leading contributor to the provincial total, comprising over half with 68.39 percent or 740 registered births. Nueva Valencia ranked second, contributing 15.43 percent with 167 live births, followed by Buenavista, which recorded 161 births, making up 14.88 percent of the total. In contrast, San Lorenzo and Sibunag reported the fewer births, with only 9 and 5 registrations, representing 0.83 percent and 0.46 percent of the provincial total, respectively.

In the second quarter of 2024, the total number of registered live births in Guimaras Province, based on the usual residence of the mother, reached 1,083. The municipality of Jordan 2 3 recorded the highest number of registered live births, with 764, accounting for 70.54 percent of the total. Buenavista followed with 198 births, contributing 18.28 percent, while Nueva Valencia registered 105 live births, making up 9.70 percent. In contrast, the municipalities of San Lorenzo and Sibunag reported fewer registrants, each recording 8 live births, equivalent to 0.74 percent of the provincial total. See figure 3.

Sibunag records fastest growth on registered births in Q1 2024

Three municipalities recorded increases in registered live births during the period. Sibunag experienced the fastest growth, with 60.00 percent increase, followed by Buenavista, with 22.98 percent increase. Jordan also recorded a positive growth rate, albeit more modest, at 3.24 percent.

Registered live births in Nueva Valencia and San Lorenzo recorded declines, with negative growth rates of 37.13 percent and 11.11 percent, respectively.

Of the 1,082 total registered births in 2023, 51.85 percent (561 births) were females, while 48.15 percent (521 births) were males, resulting in a gender gap of 3.70 percent.

In four municipalities—Buenavista, Jordan, Nueva Valencia, and Sibunag—female birth registrants outnumbered males, with gender gaps of 1.86 percent, 4.32 percent, 5.39 percent, and 20.00 percent, respectively (see Table 2).

Conversely, registered births in San Lorenzo were male-dominated, exhibiting a significant gender gap of 55.56 percent. This male predominance is further reflected in the sex ratio in San Lorenzo, where there were 350 males for every 100 females.

In comparison to the first quarter of 2023, registered birth in Guimaras continued to exhibit a female dominance, with a recorded gender gap of 8.22 percent. Three out of five municipalities registered more female live births than males, as outlined in Table 3.

Among the municipalities with female majority, Jordan displayed the larger gender gap of 9.69 percent, resulting in a sex ratio of 82 males per 100 females. Buenavista followed closely with a gender gap of 9.09 percent, translating to a sex ratio of 83 males per 100 female live births. Nueva Valencia, while also a female-dominated municipality in the first quarter of 2023, recorded a gender gap of 2.86 percent, corresponding to a sex ratio of 94 males per 100 female live births.

Sibunag still recorded more male live births than female with a big gender gap of 75.00 percent or a sex ratio of 700 males per 100 females. Moreover, San Lorenzo has an equal number of female and male registrants in the first quarter of 2024.

Registered Births by Month of Occurrence

The registered births by month of occurrence in the first quarter of 2024 revealed that February had the highest number of female live births with 217 births. Meanwhile, March recorded the highest number of male live births, totaling 185 (see Figure 4).

Moreover, March recorded the highest number of male live births, with 185, while February recorded the fewest, with just 148 male live births.

Registered live births in the first three months of the year were dominated by females.

Registered Birth by Month: Q1 2024

In the first three months of 2024, the highest number of live births was recorded in March, with 399 registrations, while January had the lowest, with 319 registered live births. See Figure 5.

                                                                 TECHNICAL NOTES 

Vital Statistics – are derived from information obtained at the time when the occurrences of vital events and their characteristics are inscribed in civil register. Vital acts and events are the birth, death and marriages, and all such events that have something to do with an individual’s entrance and departure from life together with the changes in civil status that may occur to a person during his lifetime. Recording of these events in the civil register is known as a vital or civil registration and the resulting documents are vital records.

Live Birth – is a complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy, which after such separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as the beating of heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached, each product of such a birth is considered live born.