Population of Region I – Ilocos

The Ilocos region has a population of 5,301,139 with more than half coming from the province of Pangasinan which has 3,163 thousand population. La Union has 822 thousand population, followed by Ilocos Sur with 706 thousand, and Ilocos Norte with 609 thousand population. The region’s population increased by 1.13 percent over five years, from 2015 to 2020.

The population of the different provinces of the Ilocos region increases in a linear behavior. La Union, Ilocos Sur, and Ilocos Norte population remained close. However, the gap widens due to their independent and distinct population growth rate. Except Pangasinan, the other three provinces' growth rate have decreased by at least 0.25 percent.

Urban Population

The 2020 urban population of the Philippines is 58,930,729. About 2.3 percent of this total came from the Ilocos Region. The Ilocos Region’s urban population is 1,351,205 in 2020, and 1,029,562 in 2015.

Pangasinan recorded the biggest urban population among the provinces in the Ilocos Region

Among the provinces of the Ilocos Region, Pangasinan had the most urban population growth from 2015 to 2020 with an increase of 315,521 (43.70 percent). Only Ilocos Norte has negative urban population growth of 30.24 percent in 5 years.

Pangasinan remained the leading province in the region in terms of level of urbanization of about 32.8 percent in 2020. Meanwhile, the City of Dagupan, Pangasinan has the biggest urban population among the cities/municipalities in the region with 148,998 urban resident or a level of urbanization of 85.5 percent in 2020. The top five (5) urbanized city, and city/municipality of the Ilocos Region in terms of percent urban are all from Pangasinan. Meanwhile, Sinait, Ilocos Sur has least urban population among the cities and municipalities in the region with 2.8 percent level of urbanization. Forty-eight out of 125 municipalities and cities combined do not have a percent urban.

Urban Barangays

Two new barangays were created in Ilocos Norte between 2015-2020. However, the total number of urban barangays in Ilocos Norte has decreased by 28 from the 68 urban barangays in 2015. All other provinces in the region have increased in the total number of urban barangays.

SGD. ATTY. SHEILA O. DE GUZMAN
Regional Director, RSSO I