Fertility Transition in Latin America: Stopping Patterns in Selected Countries

Tereza Bernardes , University of Pennsylvania
Adriana Miranda-Ribeiro, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)

The accelerated decline of fertility in Latin America has been the focus of many studies. Surprisingly countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia achieved fertility rates below the replacement level. The fertility transition in Latin America showed different behaviors when is compared with Europe, for example. One of the most important behaviors that impacted on fertility was the limitation of families' sizes, which is also known as "stopping". Using this approach and applying the Birth Histories Reconstructed Method (BHRM) for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Equador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay we intend to understand the stopping behavior among women based on a cohort perspective. Some preliminary results demonstrated that births of first orders are becoming an important component of fertility and this pattern is related to education. Also, the countries analyzed presented differences between education groups. In addition, some results indicate the impact of labor market and age at marriage.

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 Presented in Session 83. Stopping, Spacing, and Postponing in the Developing World