Is there a shortage of MEN in the Philippines??

 A few penpal sites have perpetuated the idea that there are a lot more females than males in the Philippines, and thus Filipinas seek western men to fill the void.  

Census information clearly indicates that there is not, in fact, a shortage of Filipino males. There are many sources available for Philippine census data, but the numbers below come from a recent edition CIA World Fact Book.  

Total population of the Philippines: 82,841,518 (July 2001 est.) 

0-14 years:  36.87% (male 15,547,712; female 14,997,544)

15-64 years:  59.45% (male 24,374,849; female 24,873,595)

65 years and over:  3.68% (male 1,355,046; female 1,692,772) (2001 est.)   

Thus, in the key “15-64 years” age group, there is a difference of about 500,000, in favor of the females.  That might sound like a lot more women than men, but given the population of almost 50,000,000, that comes out to a mere 1% difference.  Men die from natural causes earlier in life than women, so it’s very likely that this 1% excess of females is in the 40-64 year age grouping, when health begins to deteriorate due to natural causes.  This trend is evident by the fact that there are actually more males than females in the 0-14 year age group, but then more females than males in the 65 years and over age group. Men just die sooner.  But they certainly are not prone to keeling over in their mid-20’s or mid-30’s, which means that Filipinas in their mid-20’s (the average age of Filipinas seeking western husbands) have plenty of males in their own country to choose from.
 

But we don't need census data to reach that conclusion. Logic dictates that, absent some mitigating factor, the female to male ratio in the Philippines will be about the same as it would be in most other places in the world. What kind of mitigating factors? A major war would be one example, or male infanticide, or some kind of bizarre genetic deviations.

If, for example, there were a major war, such as World War I, that might indeed tilt the balance toward females, since men would be getting killed in disproportionate numbers. But it would have to be a pretty big war, the kind where men are getting conscripted and killed by the millions, not just murdered in random NPA attacks or Abu Sayyaf raids. There is no war, has not been for decades. 

Clearly, there's no evidence of male infanticide in the islands. Male children are cherished in the Philippines, just as female children are. The idea of Filipinas killing their own young is beyond comprehension.  So we can dismiss male infanticide, also.

A genetic deviation? While it may sound absurdly obvious, logic dictates that Filipino women obey the same laws of nature as other women. There is no unique genetic quirk that would cause the women of the Philippines to give birth to a dramatically greater number of girls than boys. If such a quirk did indeed exist, you can bet the Philippines would be swarming with scientists from all over the world sampling the water and doing blood tests. Medical journals would be filled from cover to cover with data as doctors tried to figure out exactly why so many girls were being born in the Philippines vs. boys…
 

(End of book excerpt – if you’d like the entire text, please consider ordering The ASAWA Guide to Fil-West Relationships.  Thank you!)