Current fertility: a first glimpse from the 1983 National Demographic Survey.

This paper highlights initial findings from the 1983 National Demographic Surveys (NDS) based on a 25% sub-sample of the survey respondents. The discussion focuses on measures of current fertility as well as on selected fertility "predictors" for the 3 major island groups -- Luzon, Visay, and Mindanao. Owing to the restrictive nature of the data set, no statistical tests are performed to measure the influence on fertility of these explanatory variables. Instead, inferences are drawn from a descriptive analysis of the patterns exhibited. Findings point to a continuation of fertility decline as evidenced by the estimated crude birthrate of 33.6 births/1000.