City records downtrend in birth
The city’s Local Civil Registry Office (LCRO) recorded a down trend in the number of babies born or births over the past three years.
Based on the data obtained from the LCRO, there were some 7,347 births in the city in 2023 but dropped close to10 percent with 6,640 births in 2024.
The notable fluctuation of birth was notable over the past three years with a steep decline in March 2024 that recorded negative 23.73 percent and December with negative 21.69 percent.
However, births in April last year showed slight increase with a positive 17.45 percent compared to the previous year’s data in the same month.
From 2024 to 2025, the LCRO stated that births in most months continue to decrease except for July 2025 that saw a slight increase by positive 5.57 percent that indicated a mild mid-year recovery.It added that the trend from 2023 to 2025 reflects a consistent decline in births, indicating possible demographic slowdown or reporting delays.
From January to October this year, there were 5,187 births in the city compared to the 5,594 births during the same period last year and the 6,110 births during the similar period in 2023.
LCRO Registration Officer Marieta Joven claimed that there are various factors that may have caused the constant decrease in the number of births in the city such as economic, family planning, among others.
She claimed that the LCRO remains steadfast in ensuring the registration of the vital events in the life of the people such as birth, death and marriage and individuals should also be aware of the timely registration of vital events to avoid unnecessary problems that may transpire in the future when they need the relevant documents.
Joven stated that one of the strategies embraced by the LCRO to intensify its information and education campaign for people to have the documents of the vital events in their lives registered is the conduct of the semestral mobile registration services in the city’s barangays to pave the way for those with unregistered documents to be corrected and registered in their office for future references. – Dexter A. See
