because of their stage in life, are dependent on adults or the working age population. And then there is also the elderly population who also depend on the working age population for food, shelter, health and other basic necessities. The shift to the second phase, that is, a bigger proportion of the working age population vis-à-vis dependents, will be determined by how well the country manages population growth through the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) Law. Full implementation of the RPRH Law, coupled with adequate investments on the youth’s human capital, will enable the country to reap the demographic dividend by 2030 through 2040. Otherwise, the country will have to wait until at least 2050 to benefit from the demographic dividend, or possibly even miss it altogether. Challenges Several factors associated with changes in the size, structure, and attributes of the country’s population affect the prospects for reaping the demographic dividend. These include population growth rate and distribution, access to health, education, employment, and finances. The implementation of the RPRH Law needs to go beyond the “business-as-usual” strategies and tactics in order to make significant impacts on population and development processes, and hence, improve the health and well-being of each Filipino as envisioned in the Ambisyon 2040. Prioritizing and addressing the following challenges will hasten the country’s achievement of the demographic dividend. 1. The demographic transition is slow because fertility rate remains high. In the Philippines, the demographic transition is at a stage where mortality is relatively low but fertility remains high. Majority of the regions in the country have fertility levels which are higher than the national average of 2.7 children. 2. Two million Filipinos are added to the population every year. The latest Population Census recorded about 101 million Filipinos living in the country in 2015. While the pace of growth is slowing – from 1.9 percent annual growth rate in 2000-2010 to 1.7 percent in 2010-2015 – the population continues to grow significantly, with about 2 million Filipinos added to the population every year. 3. The regional patterns of population growth fuel changes in regional age structures, creating inequality in opportunities and outcomes. Economic opportunities are concentrated in a few regions, notably NCR, Central Luzon, and CALABARZON, where social conditions and development outcomes are better than other regions. Their relatively better performance compared with the rest of the regions is a product of geography and initial resource endowments. 4. Children below 15 years of age continue to form the base of the country’s population age structure. Based on the 2010 population census, about 33.4 percent or 30.7 million Filipinos were below 15 years of age; 60.3 percent were between 15 to 64 years old (comprising the working or productive ages); and 4.2 percent were aged 65 and over. Having a young population means a continuing increase in population due to the large cohorts of young women who will soon enter the childbearing years and contribute to the fertility level in the country (population momentum). This also explains the large number of young dependents. 5. The older population in the country is still a small fraction but slowly growing. In 2010, Filipinos aged 60 and older accounted for 6.2 percent of the country’s population, almost the same level as in 2000. However, while ageing prevalence in the Philippines may be relatively low, the proportion of the elderly to the total population is expected to reach a double-digit mark in 2020 assuming a moderate fertility and mortality decline. 6. Women having more children than they wanted indicates a high unmet need for family planning. The high fertility level especially among poor and less-educated women is mainly because of the low level of access to family planning commodities such as contraceptives. Only a third of women 20 2019 Annual Report Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012