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Latin America Population & Settlement. Ch 4 section 2. Time line – LA population & life expectancy trends…. 1950’s – pop = 150 million; Brazil Life ex. = 43 yrs; 1960’s & 1970’s = very high pop growth 1980’s – Life ex in Brazil = 63
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Latin America Population & Settlement Ch 4 section 2
Time line – LA population & life expectancy trends… • 1950’s – pop = 150 million; Brazil Life ex. = 43 yrs; • 1960’s & 1970’s = very high pop growth • 1980’s – Life ex in Brazil = 63 • 1950 – 1980 – most LA countries saw 15 – 20 yr increase in life ex.; 80’s also saw slow growth in pop. • 1995 – regional pop = 450 million • 1990’s pop growth less than 2%; • 2025 projected regional pop = 650 million
Urban Preference • Attributed to cultural and economic factors. • In many LA countries more than 85% of pop. lives in cities • Under Spanish rule living in a city meant high status & better economic opportunity • Urban Primacy – condition in which a country has a primate city 3 to 4 times larger than any other city in the country.
Urban Primate cities… • Lima Peru • Caracas Venezuela • Guatemala City • Buenos Aires Argentina • Mexico City Mexico
Squatter Settlements • Aka ranchos, favelas, barrios • Encircle LA cities – sometimes encompass more than 1/3 the population; • Makeshift housing on land not owned by the people • Informal Sector – takes care of people’s needs because formal sector can’t
Informal Sector • Provides housing, services & employment in squatter settlements; • provides low wage jobs that are untaxed and unregulated • Provides housing, services & employment in squatter settlements; • provides low wage jobs that are untaxed and unregulated • Sometimes gov’t will take in the squatter settlement as part of the city
Rural settlement • 130 million + live in rural areas; • Roughly the same number of people live in rural areas today as did in the 1960’s, however, due to improved transportation & communication systems in the region their lives are less isolated. There are wide gaps between the rural rich & poor; economic activity is more modern & varied (industry; mechanized farming). Social tension over uneven land distribution is a problem. Agrarian reform has not been successful.
Population & Growth Movements… • High pop. growth rates in LA are attributable to both RNI & immigration/migration (waves of immigrants have moved into the region for various reasons AND there have been a number of migratory population shifts within the region as well) • MIGRATION TRENDS: European migration followed the wars for independence as new governments of LA opened their doors to European peasants which increased the region’s MESTIZO population (mixed Euro. & Indian ancestry); forced migration from Africa happened during the peak years of the Atlantic slave trade; when slavery ended in LA, Asian immigration began to fill that labor void & continued for economic reasons;
Population & Growth Movements… • MOVEMENT WITHIN LA & NA is caused by both political & economic factors. Some people migrate for employment; others migrate to escape civil war, although the region today is largely democratic. • Mexico is the largest country of origin of legal immigrants into the US & today over 60% of the US Hispanic population has Mexican ancestry. • These population shifts have greatly changed the cultures of LA & the US & have led to transnationalism(due to globalization 21st century immigrants can maintain economic & social ties to their home country much more easily), & many transnational migrants see themselves as having a dual or hybrid cultural identity.