Santiago de Chile, Nov 17 (Prensa Latina) The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Sepal) warned today that the region was one of the most affected demographically by the health crisis caused by COVID-19.
Countries in the region lost 2.9 years in life expectancy at birth, going from 75.1 in 2019 to 72.2 in 2021, warned Simone Cecchini, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Center (CELADE), a division of the ELAC population. Cecchini said the decline was greater in Central America, where it reached 3.6 years.
Presenting the 2022 Demographic Observatory, Seled said the indicator would not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2025, reflecting the effects of COVID-19 in the region.
Although the region’s population growth began slowing in 1991, the index saw a sharp decrease in 2020 and 2021, the UN agency said.
It is estimated that in 2022 there will be more than 660 million people in this region.
The progressively smaller increase in population, resulting from a decrease in fertility, will cause Latin America and the Caribbean to reach a maximum population of 751.9 million inhabitants by 2056.
Recalling that the pandemic delayed most censuses, ECLAC stressed the importance of robust and timely systems for collecting and disseminating population data disaggregated by age, gender and cause of death.
Countries that have faster systems in this regard were more likely to have defined action plans against COVID-19 and had better tools to monitor the decline or progress of the disease.
