Chapter 5 Southern Tagalog

Southern Tagalog, or Region IV, (Tagalog: Timog Katagalugan) was a region of the Philippines that is now composed of Region IV-A (CALABARZON) and Region IV-B (MIMAROPA). Region IV was split into the two regions on May 17, 2002. Before the split, Southern Tagalog was the largest region in terms of both population and area.

Southern Tagalog Region:

Population reached 11.8 million

Southern Tagalog which covered the provinces of Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Quezon, Rizal, Romblon and Aurora and the highly urbanized City of Lucena, had steadily grown to 11,793,655 persons based on the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (Census 2000). This was up by more than two million persons as compared to the 1995 Census of Population (POPCEN). For the period 1995 to 2000, the annual population growth rate of Southern Tagalog was 4.12 percent, higher than that of the 1990 to 1995 period (3.18 percent), and even surpassing the national annual population growth rate of 2.36 percent. If the current annual population growth rate of the region continues, the population is expected to double in 17 years, increasing on the average, by almost 500 thousand persons a year or about 56 persons per hour.

The number of households increased to 2,413,043 as compared to 1,990,077 households in 1995. The average household size recorded in Census 2000 was 4.88 persons, slightly lower than the 1995 figure of 4.89 persons and the national average of five persons.

Biggest region in the Philippines

Southern Tagalog was the biggest region in terms of population size among the 16 regions in the Philippines, contributing 15.42 percent to the 76.5 million population of the country as recorded in Census 2000.

Median age was 22 years

Southern Tagalog had a median age of 22 years. This meant that in 2000, half of the population were below 22 years old. In 1995, the median age was 21 years.

Among the 11 provinces and one highly urbanized city, Palawan had the lowest median age of 18 years, lower than the median age of Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro with 19 years. Laguna had the highest median age at 23 years.