[Latin America: demographic trends with emphasis on mortality]

"The paper presents the Latin American demographic situation and trends since 1950, with special emphasis on differential mortality across and within countries.... The large declines in mortality, specially those at young ages, are linked to changes in epidemiological profiles which imply a greater relative importance of non-transmissible diseases and a lesser role of infectious and parasitic diseases. Population ageing also contributes to these changes due to the increased fraction of adult and elderly population. In the majority of countries, excessive mortality due to avoidable causes is still present among the poor." (SUMMARY IN ENG)