Fertility and Mortality Decline in Latin America

Abstract

During the twentieth century the population of Latin America has undergone three momentous shifts. One of these affected mortality, and the other two involved marital and general fertility. Different countries, however, experienced these shifts at different times and with different intensities. As a consequence, the patterns of population growth are very diverse and difficult to classify. In this article an attempt is made to construct a typology of population trends in Latin America by identifying similarities and differences in the levels, patterns, and changes of fertility and mortality. The typology is used to review the most important macro and micro determinants of the observed population trends.

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References

1. Alberto Palloni , “A Brief History of Population Trends in Latin America: 1900-1985” (Working series paper 90-02, Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin, 1990).

2. J. B. McKinlay and S. M. McKinlay , “The Questionable Contribution of Medical Measures to the Decline of Mortality in the United States in the Twentieth Century,” Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, Summer 1977, pp. 405-429.

3. Palloni , “Brief History.”

idem , “Causes and Consequences of Mortality Decline in Developed and Developing Countries during the Twentieth Century,” in R. A. Easterlin , ed., Population and Economic Change in Developing Countries (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), pp. 289-360.

5. Palloni , “Brief History.”

6. The values in the fourth column of the table were calculated as the rate of decline in I_f experienced by England and Wales within a period equal in length to that used in column 3 of the table. The period starts at the time of onset of fertility decline in England and Wales and the definition of the date of the onset of fertility decline is the same as the one used for Latin American countries.

7. Palloni , “Brief History.”

8. Ibid.

9. Robert J. Lapham and W. Parker Mauldin , “Family Planning Program Effort and Birth Rate Decline in Developing Countries,” International Family Planning Perspectives, 10(4):109-118 (1984).

10.

10. Alberto Palloni , “Health Levels and Care in Latin America: The Case of Infant and Child Mortality, 1900-1985” (Working Series Paper 89-17, Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin, 1989).

11.

11. See Palloni , “Brief History.”