ABSTRACT
"In this article fertility behaviour is analyzed between 1950 and 1990, and Latin American countries are classified according to the stages of the transition process. The analysis of fertility decline by age of women indicates that the decrease was more pronounced in women 30 years and over, due principally to a broader access to family planning services. Differences in fertility behaviour by level of urbanization, education and occupation were also analyzed." (SUMMARY IN ENG)
Subject(s)
Age Factors , Classification , Educational Status , Employment , Family Planning Services , Fertility , Health Services Accessibility , Population Dynamics , Sexual Behavior , Urbanization , Demography , Developing Countries , Economics , Geography , Latin America , Organization and Administration , Population , Population Characteristics , Program Evaluation , Research , Social Class , Socioeconomic Factors , Urban PopulationABSTRACT
PIP: This work seeks to assess rural-urban and regional fertility trends and differentials in Bolivia since 1965, and to examine the relationship between the level of fertility and the proximate fertility determinants in the different regions using the Bongaarts method. Important social and cultural differences in Bolivia's 3 principal geographic regions are reflected in reproductive patterns. The 2 Andean regions, the Altiplano and the Valles, are inhabited predominantly by Quechua and Aymara speaking indigenous populations, while the Llanos or lowlands are inhabited primarily by persons of Spanish-speaking origin. The 1976 population census, the 1988 National Survey of Population and Housing, and the 1989 Demographic and Health Survey were the basis for fertility estimates for Bolivia during 1965-90. The estimate for 1990 was an extrapolation based on recent trends. The total fertility rates estimated for the country as a whole, the urban population, and the rural population, respectively, have declined from 6.50, 5.50, and 7.00 in 1965 to 6.00, 4.90, and 6.90 in 1980 and 5.20, 4.00, and 6.30 in 1985. Total fertility rates in the Altiplano, Valles, and Llanos, respectively, were 6.00, 6.60, and 7.00 in 1965, 5.80, 6.20, and 6.00 in 1980, and 5.00, 5.40, and 5.10 in 1985. The fertility levels of the 3 geographic regions thus differ less than those of urban and rural zones. The apparent similarity of fertility levels in the 3 ecological zones masks significant differences between the regions in the proximate fertility determinants of nuptiality, contraceptive usage, and lactation. Compensatory mechanisms result in the apparent similarity. The Llanos are characterized by an earlier age at union than the other 2 regions. Almost all women marry or enter a union at some point, and about 1/3 of unions are consensual. Nuptiality patterns are consistent with maximizing the reproductive potential of women and are more similar to those of Central America than those of the rest of Bolivia. The 1989 Demographic and Health Survey showed an average age at 1st union of around 20 years for Bolivia, 18.8 for the Llanos, 21 for the Valles, and 20.5 for the Altiplano. Women in the Llanos also breast fed their infants for a shorter time on average than women in the other 2 regions. The average duration of breast feeding was 16.4 months for Bolivia, 17.8 months for the Altiplano, 16.1 months for the Valles, and 13.4 months for the Llanos. Postpartum abstinence was also 3 months shorter on average in the Llanos than in the Altiplano. These differences were clearly reflected in the durations of postpartum insusceptibility to pregnancy, which were 13.5 months in Bolivia, 14.8 and 13.8 months in the Altiplano and Valles, and only 10.1 months in the Llanos. But contraceptive usage was much more common in the Llanos, where 42.9% of women in union used a method vs. 24.7% in the Altiplano and 30.8% in the Valles. Women in the Llanos were also much more likely to use a modern method.^ieng
Subject(s)
Birth Rate , Contraception Behavior , Contraception , Demography , Ethnicity , Fertility , Geography , Lactation , Marriage , Population Dynamics , Rural Population , Sexual Abstinence , Sexual Behavior , Social Class , Urban Population , Americas , Biology , Bolivia , Culture , Developing Countries , Economics , Family Planning Services , Latin America , Physiology , Population , Population Characteristics , Pregnancy , Research , Socioeconomic Factors , South AmericaABSTRACT
PIP: The method of surviving sisters for indirectly estimating maternal mortality is still under development but shows promise for countries lacking alternative sources of data and good statistics. This work uses census or survey data to apply the method to rural villages in Gambia; Mapuche settlements in Cautin, Chile; marginal populations on the outskirts of Lima, Peru; and rural villages of Avaroa, Bolivia. The method is explained in detail following presentation of the results. The necessary basic information is outlined, and the particularities of its application to each Latin American case are discussed. The surviving sisters method was developed by Graham and Brass to derive indicators of maternal mortality based on the proportion of sisters who arrive at fertile age and die during pregnancy, delivery, or the postpartum period. The method transforms the proportions of sisters who died of maternal causes obtained from a census or survey into conventional probabilities of death. The basic information required concerns the numbers of sisters entering the reproductive period (excluding the respondent is she is a woman), the number surviving and decreased at the survey data, and the number who died during pregnancy, delivery, or the postpartum period. The probabilities of dying from a maternal cause were estimated on the basis of the sister survival method at 1/98 in Lima, 1/53 in Cautin, 1/17 in Gambia, and 1/10 in Bolivia. These probabilities correspond to ratios of maternal mortality per 100,000 live births of 286 in Lima, 414 in Cautin, 1005 in Gambia, and 1379 in Bolivia. The results demonstrate great variability in maternal mortality rates. In the cases of Lima and Cautin there were significant differences between estimates derived from the sister survival method and those derived from vital statistics. The 4 cases demonstrated the familiar association between maternal and infant mortality, fertility, and overall female mortality expressed in life expectancy at birth. The more detailed presentation of the 3 Latin American cases stresses the need to formulate survey questions that will enable the population at risk to be correctly identified in each case. A minimum of 3 questions is usually required, and their formulation may vary depending in part on the importance of extramarital fertility.^ieng
Subject(s)
Maternal Mortality , Methods , Nuclear Family , Statistics as Topic , Africa , Africa South of the Sahara , Africa, Western , Americas , Bolivia , Chile , Demography , Developing Countries , Family Characteristics , Family Relations , Gambia , Latin America , Mortality , Peru , Population , Population Dynamics , Research , South AmericaABSTRACT
PIP: This article presents information on the age structure and level of female fertility obtained on the basis of a sample of the Yanomami population (653 individuals) residing in the Venezuelan margin of Sierra Parima. The population observed is very young, over 50% are less than age 15, and the mean age is 18. The total fertility rate reaches 7.76 children/woman while the age distribution of rates show that fertility begins at a very early age and begins to decrease only after age 30. (author's modified)^ieng