Love prospects for young adults

Where in the Philippines does a male have more chances of finding a date or mate? In Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which consists of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that females outnumber males in the 15- to 34-age bracket in these places. It is in this age bracket that a huge number of Filipinos study and graduate from high school and/or college, find work, seek mates, start a family and bear children.

That Metro Manila and adjoining Laguna and Cavite have more females than males is understandable. The metropolis is the country’s economic and political center, while Laguna and Cavite are among the richest provinces.

Not only top colleges and universities but also more job opportunities can be found in these areas. Increasingly, more girls than boys graduate from high school and college. It is also in the metropolis and the two provinces, where malls as well as electronics and business process outsourcing companies dominated by women, are located. Then there are the mostly female kasambahay (household help).

By contrast, the ARMM is the country’s poorest region, where unemployment is high and life spans are short. It is also where the Moro insurgency has persisted over the past four decades. With limited job opportunities available, males may seek work elsewhere or perhaps join the insurgency.

The combined effects of poor social services and the bloody conflict, coupled with clan wars and banditry, may have taken a heavy toll on the males in the region. Juan Sarmiento Jr.