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 968 live births in the third quarter of 2024. Of these births, 51.86 percent or 502 births were female and 48.14 percent, or 466 births were male, with a gender gap of 3.72 percent or a sex ratio of 93 males to every 100 females.

In the third quarter of 2024, the number of registered live births decreased by 6.20 percent compared to the same period in 2023. The total number of live births declined from 1,032 in the third quarter of 2023 to 968 in the third quarter of 2024. Female live births decreased from 524 in Q3 2023 to 502 in Q3 2024, while male births also decreased from 508 to 466 during the same period.

Registered Births by Municipality, Guimaras: Q3 2023 & Q3 2024

In the third quarter of 2023, the Municipality of Jordan was the leading contributor to the provincial total, accounting for more than half of the births with 65.79 percent or 679 registered births. Nueva Valencia ranked second, contributing 17.15 percent with 177 live births, followed by Buenavista, which recorded 163 births, or 15.79 percent. Meanwhile, San Lorenzo and Sibunag had fewer registrations, with just 9 and 4 births, representing 0.87 percent and 0.39 percent of the provincial total, respectively.

In the third quarter of 2024, the total number of registered live births in Guimaras, based on the usual residence of the mother, reached 968. The Municipality of Jordan recorded the highest number, with 646 births, accounting for 66.74 percent of the provincial total. Buenavista followed with 251 births, or 25.93 percent, while Nueva Valencia registered 62 births, representing 6.40 percent. In contrast, San Lorenzo recorded 7 births, with a 0.72 percent share, and Sibunag had the fewest, with just 2 births, or 0.21 percent.

Buenavista records 53.99% growth on registered births in Q3 2024

In the third quarter of 2024, only the municipality of Buenavista posted a growth at 53.99 percent compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, Nueva Valencia, Sibunag, San Lorenzo, and Jordan posted declines of 64.97 percent, 50.00 percent, 22.22 percent, and 4.86 percent, respectively. See table 1.

In the third quarter of 2023, a total of 1,032 live births were registered, with 50.78 percent (524 births) being female and 49.22 percent (508 births) male, resulting in a gender gap of 1.55 percent.

In Buenavista and Nueva Valencia, female births outnumbered male births, with gender gaps of 10.43 percent and 7.34 percent, respectively.

Conversely, Jordan and San Lorenzo were male-dominated municipalities for the third quarter of 2023, with gender gaps of 1.33 percent and 55.56 percent, respectively.

Notably, Sibunag reported an equal number of male and female births for the period.

In the third quarter of 2024, Guimaras continued to show a trend of female dominance in live births, with a gender gap of 3.72 percent. Two out of the five municipalities recorded more female births than male, as detailed in Table 3.

Among the municipalities with a female majority, Buenavista had the largest gender gap at 21.91 percent, resulting in a sex ratio of 64 males for every 100 female live births. Nueva Valencia followed with a gender gap of 9.68 percent, equating to 82 males for every 100 females.

In contrast, San Lorenzo and Jordan saw more male live births, with gender gaps of 42.86 percent and 3.41 percent, respectively.

Notably, Sibunag reported an equal number of male and female live births during this period.

Registered Births by Month of Occurrence, Guimaras: Q3 2024

The registration of births by month in the third quarter of 2024 showed that September recorded the highest number, with 191 female births, while August reported the lowest, with only 152 female births. (see Figure 4).

Similarly, for male births, September saw the highest number of registrations, with 186 male live births, while August recorded the fewest, with just 137 male live births.

Registered Births by Month, Guimaras: Q3 2024

In the third quarter of 2024, the highest number of live births was recorded in September, with 377 registrations, while August had the lowest, with 289 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.