PROFILE:  DEMOGRAPHY

              The earliest recorded census in 1903 showed Dapitan with a population of only 8,086.  Its population rose to 28,295 in 1939 and further to 37,984 in 1948.  In 1960, however, the city’s population dropped by 10,467 (-2.65%) following the separation of Sibutad, La Libertad and Rizal from Dapitan to become separate municipalities of the Province of Zamboanga del Norte.  From 1970 onwards, Dapitan’s population showed an increasing trend of the average growth rate as indicated on Table 1. 

Table 1

POPULATION TREND, DAPITAN CITY 1979-1995

   Source: Socio-Economic and Demographic Characteristic, 1995, Census of Population  

               According to the 1995 Census of Population of the City it has a total population of 63,702 persons while projections showed that by year 2020 the total projected will be 87,081 Table 2 shows the population projection of the City.  

Table 2  

POPULATION PROJECTION, DAPITAN CITY

Source: Office of the City Planning and Development Coordinator, Dapitan City 1998  

              Urban population density in 1995 averaged 30 persons per hectare while the rural areas have an average population density of only 2 persons per hectare.  By the year 2000, it is expected that the urban population density will be 33 persons per hectare while rural population density will remain at 2 persons per hectare.

              There were 11,935 households in 1995 with four out of every five households located in the rural areas. The average household size of the whole city was 5.4 persons.

              The male -female ratio was 103:100 and the reverse is true in the rural area where the females outnumber the males with a sex ratio of 95.

              In the survey conducted by the City Government’s Management Information System Office in 1995,  the working age (15-64 years) group totalled 60% of the population, while those belonging to the younger age group or the dependent bracket (90-14 years) constituted 35.4%. The old-age group (65 years and over) comprised 4.56%.

              The City’s manpower supply is abundant. Around 60% are in the mainstream or the economically-active population.  Of this percentage, 48.9% employed in various gainful occupations while 51% were still looking for employment.

   The city’s population is relatively young with 64.90 percent of the total below 30 years old.  The working age group (15 to 64 years) constitute a substantial 60.0% of the total city population.