Search

"Uruguay can be ranked among the countries with fairly reliable vital statistics. The last population census included questions about ever-born and surviving children which allow [the derivation of] independent estimations relative to level and trends of infant and early childhood mortality. The purpose of this paper is to estimate such parameters based on 1985 Census information and compare them with those of 1975. Furthermore, particular interest is paid to the differentials which show that Uruguayan society is no longer the homogeneous society it seemed to be decades ago.... The last chapter is devoted to examining infant mortality by causes of death. This section evaluates the amount of lives that could be saved, if deaths due to exogenous factors are avoided." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"This paper presents a new, continuous, version of the index of years of life lost (YLL) in the population, distinguishing different causes of death. Also, it shows the mathematical relationship between the YLL and temporary life expectancies in the discrete and continuous cases....The model is applied to the analysis of mortality of the province of Cordoba, Argentina, during 1947-1991." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

The changes in health conditions that have occurred in most of the countries of Latin America in the second half of the twentieth century are analyzed. "This paper analyzes the main mechanisms involved in the epidemiologic transition, which are: changes in risk factors, fertility decline and improvements in health care technology." The authors use a mortality profile ratio, obtained by dividing the mortality rate due to infectious and parasitic diseases over the mortality rate due to cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms, to analyze trends in 15 countries. "Three distinct groups can be recognized. Each of them represents a different transitional experience. Such experiences are discussed in detail, including a new 'protracted polarized model' of the epidemiologic transition, which characterizes several Latin American countries. Finally, evidence is provided to illustrate the relationship among economic development, fertility change, and mortality profiles." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"This paper examines the adult-mortality transition in Costa Rica and its determinants. The risk of dying declined by 80% for young adults and by 40% for old adults from 1920 to 1990. The fastest decline took place in the 1950s for young-adult ages and in the late 1980s for old-adult ages.... By 1990, about 40% of Costa Rican deaths are caused by accidents and violence at young-adult ages and by cardiovascular diseases at old ages. Infectious and nutritional-related conditions (especially respiratory tuberculosis and malaria) account for three-fourths of the adult-mortality decline between 1951 and 1971, but only for 30% since that year on." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"The paper presents the Latin American demographic situation and trends since 1950, with special emphasis on differential mortality across and within countries.... The large declines in mortality, specially those at young ages, are linked to changes in epidemiological profiles which imply a greater relative importance of non-transmissible diseases and a lesser role of infectious and parasitic diseases. Population ageing also contributes to these changes due to the increased fraction of adult and elderly population. In the majority of countries, excessive mortality due to avoidable causes is still present among the poor." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"The paper starts with a brief analysis of the sources and the quality of the data and the mortality indices [for trends in adult mortality from chronic diseases in Chile]....A comparison is made of mortality among the 13 regions of the country and an attempt is made to relate the observed differences to some environmental and life-style factors. Rural-urban and educational differences of mortality by cause of death are also analyzed. The paper ends by comparing mortality by chronic disease in Chile with that of other countries of the Latin American region, noting some difficulties [in] such a comparison and proposing hypotheses for future studies." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"In a recent paper, Lee and Carter developed a new method for analyzing and forecasting time series of age specific mortality, and applied it to the U.S. population. In this paper, we extend that method to deal with various problems of incomplete data common in Third World populations, and then apply the method to forecast mortality in Chile." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"This paper reports on an attempt to use census data from Brazil in 1970 and 1980 to investigate a rise in household headship by unmarried mothers 15-49.... Demographic analysis can be useful in decomposing the change into that due to a changed propensity of women 15-49 years of age to be unmarried, to have children if unmarried, and to head their own household if an unmarried mother. This was further analyzed in terms of age, marital status (whether single, divorced/separated or widowed), region of residence, and urban-rural status....However, the research encountered data problems that make firm conclusions impossible...." This is a translation of a paper originally presented at the 1992 Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America. (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"Given the importance of information on the population age structure when planning short, medium and long-term needs within the different social strata, this paper is a proposal to deepen...the study of changes in the population pyramids.... Based on the most recent methodologies a study of age discontinuities is carried out and a method of follow-up by cohorts is suggested, taking the 15-19 and 20-24 age groups as an example. The purpose is to show that, as a...cohort ascends in the age pyramid, new and different necessities arise and also different responses are demanded on the part of the social system." Data are for Brazil as a whole and for the state of Sao Paulo. (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"The objective of this paper is to discuss the role that three of the proximate determinants of fertility (marriage, contraception and post-partum insusceptibility) have played in fertility change in Latin America and the Caribbean. First we look at issues of data availability and comparability on measures of the proximate determinants from retrospective surveys. Most of the data utilized come from the World Fertility Survey (WFS) and the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) projects. Second, we present results from the most widely applied model for assessing the impact that these proximate determinants have on fertility, that of Bongaarts....Finally, we compare the results from the application of the Bongaarts model with those from an alternative method proposed by Moreno. Both models show that increased use of contraception is by far the most important reason for fertility decline, with marriage and post-partum insusceptibility making much smaller contributions. However, the second model suggests that the role of the marriage and post-partum insusceptibility factors is much smaller than is shown by the Bongaarts model." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"This paper reviews survey-based data regarding contraceptive prevalence and methods employed in Latin America and the Caribbean, with an emphasis on changes in the mix of methods over time. The most striking recent trend is the rise in use of female sterilization.... By contrast, use of male sterilization remains negligible in most countries. The oral contraceptive pill is by far the most popular of the temporary methods, though its prevalence has more often declined than increased in recent years. Together female sterilization and the pill make up around [two-thirds] of contraceptive practice in Latin America and the Caribbean." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

Using data for Latin America, "this paper analyses the [potential] of using social policies in connection with policies to affect demographic behaviour.... It shows that there is a coincidence between the interests of the countries, as expressed by the national governments, and the demographic wishes of couples.... It shows that to a certain extent, it is possible to...[implement] social and population policies that are relatively independent from the economic situation. The document also discusses the role of social scientists...[and central and local governments] in the elaboration and execution of policies in general, and socio-demographic polices in particular...." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"The paper examines the relationship between medium and short-term changes in aggregate economic activity, and national morbidity and mortality rates by certain causes. Although overall mortality conditions have continued to improve during the economic crisis of the nineteen-eighties in the three countries studied, mortality by some causes...[has] discontinued [its] decline and [has] even increased [its] rates in some recent years.... The short-term changes in mortality in Costa Rica and Chile are generally lower than in Guatemala, but tend to be more systematic in their inverse relationship with economic fluctuations in the former. Many of the causes studied affect young and older adults, which are groups that have so far received little attention in evaluations of the health effects of economic crises in the region." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

A methodological experiment was conducted as part of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) project to determine whether different approaches to measuring the same variables would yield similar results. The experiment consisted of the use of a new questionnaire, incorporating variants of many of the traditional approaches to the collection of demographic and health data. The experimental questionnaire was applied in 2 countries, Peru and the Dominican Republic at the same time as the standard survey. The most salient feature of this new questionnaire pregnancies, contraceptive practice, and postpartum, marriage, employment, and migration information. In this paper, the authors evaluate whether the use of the calendar in the experimental questionnaire improved the quality of the resulting information on contraception in the DHS surveys from the abovementioned countries. Specifically, the author determine whether the monthly calendar led to better estimates of contraceptive prevalence, failure, and discontinuation, and discuss the advantages and drawbacks of the calendar over the more standard approach. Results from this evaluation suggest that the major advantages of the calendar over the more standard questionnaire are 3-fold: it allows for more complete reports of use for periods prior to the survey; it allows for a detailed study of contraceptive use patterns; and it obtains information which is more internally consistent with other types of information. On the bases of these findings, the DHS project will include a calendar in the new standard questionnaire to be used in the 2nd round of surveys (DHS II).

Both high rates of labor force growth and large dependency ratios are forecast in this paper for the countries of Latin America in the 1990s. The author concludes that "population and employment problems must be given high priority in bilateral negotiations and/or with international organizations when deciding upon structural adjustment strategies." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"The paper analyzes some problems related to the census measurement of internal migration according to the three following aspects: The lack of agreement between the proposed objectives and the type of question made; questionnaire design errors and enumeration errors; and inadequate data elaboration." The geographic focus is on Latin America. Problems concerning data on place of birth or place of previous residence and how these can affect the calculation of migration trends are considered. (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

The relationship between population distribution and development trends is analyzed, with attention to the planning of spatial redistribution policies. Some shortcomings in the investigation of the causes and consequences of urbanization are discussed. The second part of the article "refers to some spatial demographic and socio-economic expressions of the urbanization process in Latin America, the population concentration trends and their relationships with changes in agrarian structure and industrialization, social stratification patterns and forms of urban space organization.... The paper concludes with some critical notes on the theses related to 'optimum' size of urban centres and to 'balanced development' of urban systems, on which some policy proposals have been based." (summary in ENG), (excerpt)

"The purpose of this paper is to compare population projections prepared by the United Nations in the 1950's with the actual estimates for the countries and the regions of Central (including Mexico) and South America. The comparison is made in terms of (a) base population used in the projections (1950), (b) the projected and the estimated population for 1980, and (c) the projected and the estimated rates (including rates of growth) and numbers of births, deaths and migration over the 30 year period of the projections (1950-1980)." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"This paper analyzes the problems that arise when infant mortality estimates are derived through the probabilities of dying obtained from the application of the Coale-Trussell technique to the proportion of children deceased according to age of mother derived from census or survey data. These problems arise because this operation requires the acceptance of a mortality model by age." The author outlines "some criteria for the selection of the model through the use of information from Vital Statistics and surveys. Finally, it is stated that an alternative for the study of infant mortality trends is the selection of an indicator less affected by the mortality structure by age...." The problems are illustrated using data from selected countries in Latin America. (summary in ENG), (excerpt)

"A procedure is described to obtain an age distribution of emigrant surviving children from the reports of such children obtained from women by a census or survey. A simple form of the procedure, requiring a minimum of calculation, is shown to work almost as well as the more elaborate form, and is recommended for most uses. "These new procedures, explicitly introducing an age model of migration, yield age distributions which are substantially different from, and probably more realistic than those obtained through the use of model fertility and mortality schedules alone.... The age distributions of migrant children [in Colombia] as obtained in this paper are compared with those obtained by Somoza.... The procedure described here produces a total almost 10 percent higher because it shifts the age distribution of the migrant children towards higher ages with lower proportions of surviving mothers." (summary in ENG), (excerpt)

"The paper refers to the amount and some characteristics of the Spanish, Italian and Portuguese immigration to Chile during the period 1860-1930. It is compared with [movements to] Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Uruguay.... Different information sources are used and in spite of data weakness, the low preference for Chile of the European migratory flows is ratified as compared with those to Argentina.... It is pointed out that the migratory flows to Latin America, in particular to Chile, are associated, on the one hand, with the favourable... European [immigration] policy in this country and on the other hand with the huge European emigration overseas during that period." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"During the latter part of 1986, national probability sample surveys of women of reproductive ages were carried out in... Peru and the Dominican Republic. These surveys were made as part of the Demographic Health Surveys project (DHS). In each country, one survey was conducted with the standard core questionnaire developed for DHS; the other survey was based on an experimental questionnaire. The major difference between the two questionnaires is the inclusion in the experimental one of a monthly calendar, which records pregnancies, contraceptive use, reasons for contraceptive discontinuation, breastfeeding, post-partum amenorrhea, post-partum abstinence, women's employment and place of residence for the period 1981-1986. This paper presents results from the first stage of the analysis of the Peruvian data: a comparison of basic characteristics of the two samples and an assessment of the completeness of reporting of recent births and infant and child deaths, i.e., a comparison of information in the truncated and full birth histories." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"This paper examines characteristics of recent rural-urban out-migrants leaving households in the Sierra of Ecuador. A large, household survey focussing specifically on migration is utilized, allowing detailed crosstabulations by sex and origin-destination combination and providing information about migrants generally not found in more generic surveys or censuses. Differences are noted between migrants and non-migrants in basic demographic characteristics, reasons for migrating, and economic activities prior to and subsequent to moving. Differences in the characteristics of migrants moving between various types of place of origin and place of destination are also noted." (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

"The paper analyzes the demographic aspects of the aging of the population in Latin America. Aging is still incipient in the great majority of countries of the region, but it will become generalized and will be accentuated especially after the year 2000. The dependency relationship will continue to decrease until higher levels of aging are reached; the proportion of the aged in the potentially dependent population will increase and the relationship between the population from 15 to 59 years of age and over 60 will decrease. "At present, the proportion of single women [over 60] is much higher than that of single men. From the information on participation in the labour force and the access that the aged have to income or pension benefits, the paper also shows that most of the aged that continue to work do so because they require an income for subsistence. "The paper finally includes some conclusions on the causes and consequences of the aging of the population and the actions that would be necessary to broaden knowledge for the formulation of policies." (summary in ENG), (excerpt)

"This paper describes the historical evolution of five populations and analyzes the circumstances under which data on maternal and paternal orphanhood of couples at the moment of marriage were collected and compiled." The data, which concern historical populations in Mexico, Chile, Peru, Brazil, and Argentina, are used to construct life tables for male and female adults. Consideration is given to mortality differentials by sex. (summary in ENG), (excerpt)

"This paper presents six indirect techniques for estimating the degree of death coverage as applied to vital statistics information in Venezuela between 1960 and 1982, collected by two public institutions, namely, the 'Oficina Central de Estadistica e Informatica' (OCEI) and the Ministry of Health and Social Assistance (MSAS).... The results show remarkable improvements in the death registry coverage for both institutions, that amount to 97 or 98 per cent at the beginning of the 80's. Nevertheless, great differences can be observed between them regarding both structure and volume of deaths by sex and age." Among the problems discussed are the impact of immigration and errors in age reporting. (SUMMARY IN ENG), (excerpt)

In infant mortality estimates, using the Coale-Trussell procedure with information from 2 successive population censuses of a country, reveals differences in the levels for the overlapping years of periods. This paper deal with this problem using the 1974 and 1982 censuses of Ecuador. The contribution of his analysis consists in demonstrating that infant mortality in a given year--estimated from a specific age group--is a weighted average between zero mortality--women declaring no deaths among their children and mortality with a value different from zero--women declaring some child dead. The weighing values are the age structure of women according to the condition of having dead children and corrected by the mean parity of the corresponding age group. Looking at the structure--women with or without dead children--of both censuses, a strong increase in the proportion of women without dead children occurred in 1982 as compared with the proportion in 1974. In order to eliminate this lack of comparability a reweighing was introduced in the 1982 information. New estimates were obtained, and these are much closer to the estimates obtained from the 1974 census.