Based on the results of the 2020 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS), Ilocos Region was composed of 1,252 thousand families. It ranked 8^th in terms of number of families among the regions in the country. CALABARZON registered the highest with 3,970 thousand families, followed by National Capital Region (NCR) with 3,449 thousand families. Meanwhile, Caraga and CAR had the lowest with 649 thousand, and 439 thousand families, respectively.  The country has 25.8 million families. Of this total, 13.3 million families reside in urban while 12.5 million live in rural.

Table1. Number of Families and Average Family Size by Region, Philippines: 2020.

Average Family Size

As of July 2020, the estimated number of families is 25.8 million with an average family size of 4.2 persons. Among regions, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) registered the highest average family size with 6.1 family members, followed by Region V- Bicol with 4.6 family members. Both CALABARZON and NCR had the lowest average family size with 4.0. The Ilocos Region registered an average family size of 4.2. Those families that needs in the urban area have an average family size of 4.1, while rural families have an average family size of 4.3.

Age and Sex of Family Head

There were more families headed by males than females in the Philippines. Seventy-six out of 100 families were headed by males and the remaining were headed by females. More than half (54.2%) of female family heads were 55 years old and over while 33.0 percent of male family heads belonged to the same group. On the other hand, higher proportion was reported among male family heads (64.8 %) than female family heads (43.6%) for age groups 25 to 54 years old.

Likewise, 75 percent of the 1252 thousand families in the Ilocos Region were headed by males and the remaining 25 percent were headed by females.

Educational Attainment of Family Head

At least 28.1 percent of the head of the family finished junior high school, followed by elementary undergraduate with 18.5%. There were 14.8% who are elementary graduate. Lowest registered were senior high school undergraduate and senior high school graduate both at 0.1 percent. Only 11.9% finished college graduate or higher.

In the Ilocos Region, Junior high school graduate was dominantly the highest grade completed by family heads with 38.3 percent. It was followed by elementary graduate with 16.5%. Third was college graduate or higher with 10.4%. Junior high school undergraduate and elementary undergraduate, both garnered 10.0%. A small percentage of post-secondary short cycle tertiary graduate registered at 2.1%

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