▲ According to a report from ECLAC, Latin America will have a decrease in its population.Photo María Luisa Severiano
Laura Poy Solano
La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, December 7, 2024, p. 8
In Latin America and the Caribbean, population growth decreased 4 percent. The inhabitants of the region number 663 million, when the projection for 2025 was 689 million, warns the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in its Demographic Observatory 2024 report.
The document prepared by the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Center (Celade, Population Division of ECLAC) highlights that the population growth rate in the region is increasingly lower, among other factors, due to the decrease in the global rate of fertility.
The report called Population perspectives and accelerated demographic changes in the first quarter of the 21st century in Latin America and the Caribbean
points out that population estimates and projections until the beginning of this century projected a downward trend in the global fertility rate in the region with a stabilization at around 2.1 children per woman.
However, the decline has been much more rapid. The rate is now expected to continue falling in the coming decades at a slower pace and stabilize at around 1.7 children per woman, so it will remain below the replacement level.
This reduction is reflected to a greater extent in women between 15 and 19 years of age, and between 20 and 24 years old, since their fertility rate fell in the countries of the region, starting in the 2000s, although the sharpest drop It was recorded in Chile (91 percent) and Costa Rica (70 percent, while in the Caribbean, Bermuda (95 percent) and Puerto Rico (82 percent) stand out.
ECLAC points out that in 2024, the average fertility rate for the 15 to 19 age group in Latin America and the Caribbean is 50 children born alive per thousand women: in eight countries in the region this fertility is lower, while which in 12 countries is higher. Chile is the Latin American country where the fertility rate of this group is lowest (6 per thousand), followed by Costa Rica and Uruguay (25 per thousand) and Argentina (26 per thousand).
In contrast, the nations where adolescent fertility is highest are Nicaragua (94 per thousand), Honduras (81 per thousand), Venezuela (74 per thousand), Paraguay (71 per thousand) and Guatemala (68 per thousand). every thousand).
Furthermore, it indicates that the age at the specific fertility rate is higher, it went from 21 years in 2000 to 24 years in 2024, and is expected to increase to 28 years in 2050, while the average age of fertility went from 26.9 years in 2000 to 27.6 years in 2024, and is projected to increase to 28.7 years in 2050, which confirms not only a decrease in fertility, but also that the age at which motherhood begins has been postponed in the region.
