Tendencia de la natalidad, mortalidad general, infantil y neonatal en Chile desde el año 1850 a la fecha / Trends in birth rates, general, infantile and neonatal mortality in Chile from 1850 to date

ABSTRACT

Background: Chile has experienced great changes in its health conditions, due to economical, social and demographic phenomena. Aim: to underline the moment of the demographic transition in Chile by means of a chronological epidemiological study; using available infromation. Material and methods: data was obtained from registries of the National Statistical Office, General Statistics Direction and National Institute of Statistics. Results: Birth rate was 41o/oo in 1850, remained stable until the thirties, decreased to 35o/oo in 1965, to 21.3o/oo in 1978 and to 20.5o/oo in 1994. The mortality rate increased from 20.3 to 37o/oo from 1850 to 1901 and the it descended to 5.5o/oo in 1993. The annual population growth was 1 percent in the forties, increased to 2.5 percent in 1965 and is 1.6 percent at the present. The population thus increased from 1,400,000 inhabitants in 1850 to 14,000,000 in 1994. The nuptial rate has remained between 7 and 8o/oo since 1934. Infantile mortality was 337 per 1000 newborns in 1950 and dropped to 12 in 1994. It represented 36 percent of the total mortality until the sixties, and now represents only 5 percent. This has contributed to the increase in life expectancy and ageing of our population. Neonatal mortality dropped from 136 per 1000 newborns in 1936 to 5.3 in 1993. Conclusions: several causes have contributed to the changes in the ahove mentioned indicators. Currently, we are in the third stage of a Demographic transitions that began in the sixties