VOLUME XIII NO. 5 March 1-15, 2015 WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA
The Newspaper
Children enjoy kite-flying at the black sand beaches of Glan, Sarangani.
Pinoys living longer ... but in poor health M
ANILA (March 1) - Filipinos are living longer but in poor health as the country nears a “demographic transition” that leads to an aging population, the Commission on Population (PopCom) said yesterday.
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Why this Filipina volunteered to live and die on Mars MANILA - To be like Christopher Columbus, the famous Italian explorer better known as the “man that discovered America.” This was how 24-year-old Minerva Rañeses, explained her decision to join the Mars One initiative --a project that aims to send people to the Red Planet by 2024, with four more going every two years. The catch is that the people sent via the mission that aims
to start a colony on Mars can never return as the technology to bring them back to Earth simply does not exist yet. In addition, according to a study, the first humans to ever set foot in the fourth planet from the Sun will likely survive for only 68 days. Despite the risk and the thought of facing death away from her family, Rañeses, one of the 100 men and women
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tion systems have yet to catch up with social conditions.” “People are living longer but in poorer health and socioeconomic conditions. They are only partially reaping the benefits of better health and social conditions,” he said. Based on a report of the University of the Philippines Population Institute titled the “Future Aging in the Philippines: Demographic Trends, Human Capital and Health Status,” there was a significant rise in the number of older Filipinos in the past decade. “The population 60 years and over or senior citizens in the Philippines increased from 3.2 million in 1990 to 4.6 million in 2000, then to 6.2 million in 2010,” the report said. In 1960, 4.3 percent of the population was composed of senior citizens and this rose to 4.6 percent in 1970; 5.3 percent in 1980 and 1990; 5.4 percent in 1995; six percent in 2000 and
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PopCom executive director Juan Antonio Perez III said older Filipinos are expected to account for 10 percent of the population by 2025, up from the current six to seven percent. According to Perez, the life span of Filipinos is now longer at 67 for males and 72 for females due to modern technology. Their quality of life, however, did not improve. Perez said that by 2025 to 2030, the country’s population would start to age. At present, there are around seven million Filipinos who are senior citizens, or aged 60 and above. “We can say our population is not yet aging. We are still a young population but we are on the boundary of a demographic transition stage of an aging population,” he told The STAR. In 1970, the lifespan for Filipino males and females were 57.3 and 61.5, respectively. He said the “social protec-
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