Back to home pageJUNE 1993 - XXIth YEAR, NUMBER 57
93.21.01 - Spanish - Alejandro AGUIRRE
The Nature of the Preceding Birth Technique (La naturaleza del método del hijo previo)
The Preceding Birth Technique (PBT) consists on asking women at a moment close to a delivery about the survival of their previous children. The proportion of preceding children dead produces an index of early childhood mortality, Ň. Mathematically, using selected fertility and mortality models as well as simulating a PBT data collection with birth histories, it is demonstrated that Ň is equivalent to the life-table probability of dying between birth and an age I*, which is approximately 4/5 of the mean birth interval, I. The time location of the PBT estimates is about 2/3 x I before the information is collected. (METHODOLOGY, MORTALITY MEASUREMENT, BIRTH INTERVALS, INFANT MORTALITY)
93.21.02 - Spanish - Arthur CONNING and Ari SILVA
Making Census Data Accessible to Local Users in the Public and Private Sectors (Accesibilidad a los datos censales por los usuarios locales en los sectores publicos y privados)
To play completely its social role, local and regional entities in the public and private sectors require socially and economically disaggregated data for their specific substantive and geographical areas of interest. The major comparative advantage of the census over survey data is the former's high spatial resolution. Thus, with suitable technology, and if the National Statistical Offices (NS0s) are willing to make the data available, the census should be the key source of local-area population and housing data. The technology employed at the local level must permit (a) processing of census microdata for user-defined small-areas; (b) multidisciplinary databases; (c) utilization of present with past censuses; (d) digitized, census cartography; (e) spatial display and analysis of the data on maps; (f) small-area population estimations and projections. The authors present recent developments in microcomputer-based technologies in the region who are providing the practical means for making census data available and useful at the local level. Utilization of the new technologies will create new challenges for the NSO, derived in part from the characteristics of the potential new users. (CENSUS DATA, INSTITUTES OF STATISTICS, LOCAL COMMUNITIES, DATA PROCESSING, TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE)
The Singularity of Population Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean in the late 20th Century (La singularidad de las politicas de poblacion en América Latina y El Caribe en las postrimerias del siglo XX)
This article presents, in the first place, the perception that the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean have on the demographic trajectory in their country. In spite of their heterogeneity, it should be stressed that the higher or lesser degree of satisfaction regarding population growth, mortality rates and territorial settlement usually coincides with the degree of advancement in the demographic transition. Further on, the main obstacles to the efficacy of state population policies are synthesized, considering their institutionality and their integration with other policies. Based on these reflections, it is stated that the efficacy of population policies has been hindered by their lack of specificity in the context of state policies. In order to achieve a greater degree of efficacy of population policies, it is necessary to define their uniqueness, separating them from other policies, fundamentally from the social ones and establishing, at the same time, their mutual relationships. To restate the definition of these policies should lead to modify their institutionality and the actors called to sustain them. The article aims at taking into consideration the population parameters in the different policies which indirectly affect population size, structure and spatial settlement; hence, the greater incidence of social and regional policies. A national population policy should fulfill an orientating role, centered on three aspects: to establish consensual demographic goals; to channel funds towards the pertinent instancies; to follow-up and evaluate the demographic effects. The execution of policies and programmes oriented to modifying demographic factors should take place in a decentraliced fashion, through the sectoral insertion of population parameters (health, education and others); therefore, they would be ancillary to social or regional policies. (LATIN AMERICA, CARIBBEN, POPULATION POLICY, GOVERNMENT POLICY)
93.21.04 - Spanish - Edward EBANKS
The Urbanized Societies of Latin America and the Carribbean: Some Dimensions and Observations (Las sociedades urbanizadas de América Latina y El Caribe: Algunas dimensiones y observaciones)
In 1991 about 70% of the population is classified as urban. The level of urbanization is negatively associated with the rate of growth of the urban population. In all countries the levels of urbanization continue to increase, and one or two cities dominate the urban hierarchy by accounting for a high proportion of the total population and an even higher percentage of the urban population. This high concentration of the population in urban places and the high concentration of the urban population in one or two mega and or primate cities have many implications for socioeconomic development and the physical environment. It has negative and positive consequences for socioeconomic development and a quality of life; but the negative likely outweigh the positive aspects. The quality of life of the majority of the urban population in the region is poor, urban poverty is a striking feature of the towns and cities. Decentralization as both a political and an economic process has the potential to deconcentrate, in modest ways, the population. If this is achieved, sustainable development may have a fighting chance. (LATIN AMERICA, CARIBBEAN, OVERURBANIZATION, URBAN POPULATION, URBAN CONCENTRATION, URBAN DEVELOPMENT)
93.21.05 - Spanish - Adela PELLEGRINO
International Mobility of Qualified Labour Force among Latin American Countries and Towards the United States (La movilidad internacional de fuerza de trabajo calificada entre paises de América Latina y hacia los Estados Unidos)
The trends of international migratory movements of professionals and technicians are analyzed in the context of the general situation of the Latin American and Caribbean region, following the line of previous CELADE works. The article presents information on the international migration of Latin American professionals and technicians among countries of the region and towards the United States. Information sources utilized derive from the CELADE IMILA Data Bank and data from the Inmigration and Natural Registration Service of the United State Ministry of Justice. In the last part, some guidelines on policies are proposed taking into account the new trends and modalities observed in connection with the international migration movements, as well as measures that might be adopted in the framework of regional integration projects. (LATIN AMERICA, CARIBBEAN, UNITED STATES, LABOUR MIGRATION, BRAIN DRAIN)
93.21.06 - Spanish - J. Miguel GUZMAN et Jorge RODRIGUEZ
Pre-transitional, Fertility in Latin America: A Left-behind Subject (La fecundidad pre-transicional en América Latina: Un capitulo olvidado)
The authors examine total fertility trends for four Latin American countries (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Honduras) through population retroprojection procedures in a period which includes the so-called pre-transitional stage. Calculations show that pre-transitional fertility was not higher than that observed at the beginning of its sustained reduction. On the other hand, persistent differences are to be observed between fertility in urban areas and fertility in rural areas. From the levels of certain urban areas it is possible to conclude that as far as the 30's decade, or even before, there existed social groups which limited their offspring. The results do not coincide with those derived from a single dissemination model, since patterns of birth control behaviour were observed long before the 60's decade, at least withim certain social groups. Nevertheless, it was only by the mid 60's after a series of structural changes in Latin American societies, that these behaviours had a repercussion on other social strata, thus producing a decrease in average fertility. (LATIN AMERICA, FERTILITY DECLINE, DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION, SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION)
Back to home page