Ecuador.

PIP: Attention is directed to the following in this discussion of Ecuador: history of the country's demographic situation; the government's overall approach to population problems; statistical systems and development planning; institutional arrangements for the integration of population within development planning; the government's view of the importance of population policy in achieving development objectives; population size, growth and natural increase; morbidity and mortality; fertility; international migration; and spatial distribution. Ecuador has no policy of intervention to modify fertility or population growth. The official policy is to increase immigration and to modify spacial distribution. 3 censuses have been conducted since 1950, with the latest census in 1974. The United Nations has classified the vital registration statistics as unreliable. Ecuador's population, estimated at 7.8 million in mid-1978, is growing rapidly--at an average annual rate of 3.4%. The increase in Ecuador's population growth rate is due primarily to changes in mortality. The crude death rate declined by about 65%--from 29/1000 in 1920-1924 to about 10/1000 in 1970-1974. The level of life expectancy rose to 59.1 for males and 61.8 for females. Fertility levels have not changed significantly in decades. The crude birth rate, which was about 48/1000 in the early 1920s, is estimated to have declined to about 45/1000 in the 1st half of the 1970s. The total fertility rate is now about 6.7. The government has been moving in the direction of formulating a more explicit population policy.^ieng