LEGAZPI CITY: The sleepy coastal town of Jovellar in Albay province declined in population, while Albay itself posted the lowest population growth rate in the Bicol Region.

National Statistics Office regional Director Cyntia Perdiz reported during the Department of Science and Technology meeting held at National Food Authority revealed that the region’s population increased by 734,000 in the last ten years.

While Bicol region’s population posted a significant increase, Albay had the lowest growth rate among the Bicol provinces at 1.23 percent compared to the provinces of Mas-bate and Camarines Sur, which posted population growth rates higher than the 2000-2010 of 1.46 percent regional average at 1.66 percent and 1.62 percent, respectively.

“While there was an overall increase in the regional population, the municipality of Jovellar in Albay, the population dropped by 458, the only municipality in the region that posted a decline,” she said.

Bicol region’s population stood at 5,420,411 as of 2010 or a 733,742-increase compared to the region’s population 10 years ago. Among the Bicol provinces, Masbate had the highest average annual growth rate at 1.66 percent between 2000 and 2010.

As to biggest number of population among the six provinces, Camarines Sur had the largest population with 1.8 million, one-third of the total population of the region while Albay province, had the second largest with 1.2 million population.

The combined population of these two provinces (Albay and Camarines Sur) comprised more than half or (56 percent) of the region’s population. But the least population was noted in the province of Catandu-anes at 245,300 people.

As to the seven cities of Bicol, Legazpi—where the seats of government are located had the highest population with 182,200, which constitute 14.8 percent of the total population of Albay.

Naga City ranked second with 174,931 representing 9.6 percent of the total population of Camarines Sur.

Sorsogon City had the third largest with 155,144 or 20.9 percent of the total population of Sorsogon province. The only city in Bicol with a population less than 100,000 was Masbate province.

Perdiz said that the Bicol population increased at the rate of 1.46 percent annually during the 2000-2010 period, lower by 0.37 percentage point than the 1.83 percent annual growth rate registered for the period from 1990 to 2000.

“This means that there were approximately 15 persons added per year for every 1,000 persons n the population of Bicol,” Perdiz said.