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  • Title: [Fertility change in Bolivia].
    Author: Guzman JM, Torrez H, Schkolnik S.
    Journal: Notas Poblacion; 1991 Aug; 19(53):47-78. PubMed ID: 12317458.
    Abstract:
    This work seeks to assess rural-urban and regional fertility trends and differentials in Bolivia since 1965, and to examine the relationship between the level of fertility and the proximate fertility determinants in the different regions using the Bongaarts method. Important social and cultural differences in Bolivia's 3 principal geographic regions are reflected in reproductive patterns. The 2 Andean regions, the Altiplano and the Valles, are inhabited predominantly by Quechua and Aymara speaking indigenous populations, while the Llanos or lowlands are inhabited primarily by persons of Spanish-speaking origin. The 1976 population census, the 1988 National Survey of Population and Housing, and the 1989 Demographic and Health Survey were the basis for fertility estimates for Bolivia during 1965-90. The estimate for 1990 was an extrapolation based on recent trends. The total fertility rates estimated for the country as a whole, the urban population, and the rural population, respectively, have declined from 6.50, 5.50, and 7.00 in 1965 to 6.00, 4.90, and 6.90 in 1980 and 5.20, 4.00, and 6.30 in 1985. Total fertility rates in the Altiplano, Valles, and Llanos, respectively, were 6.00, 6.60, and 7.00 in 1965, 5.80, 6.20, and 6.00 in 1980, and 5.00, 5.40, and 5.10 in 1985. The fertility levels of the 3 geographic regions thus differ less than those of urban and rural zones. The apparent similarity of fertility levels in the 3 ecological zones masks significant differences between the regions in the proximate fertility determinants of nuptiality, contraceptive usage, and lactation. Compensatory mechanisms result in the apparent similarity. The Llanos are characterized by an earlier age at union than the other 2 regions. Almost all women marry or enter a union at some point, and about 1/3 of unions are consensual. Nuptiality patterns are consistent with maximizing the reproductive potential of women and are more similar to those of Central America than those of the rest of Bolivia. The 1989 Demographic and Health Survey showed an average age at 1st union of around 20 years for Bolivia, 18.8 for the Llanos, 21 for the Valles, and 20.5 for the Altiplano. Women in the Llanos also breast fed their infants for a shorter time on average than women in the other 2 regions. The average duration of breast feeding was 16.4 months for Bolivia, 17.8 months for the Altiplano, 16.1 months for the Valles, and 13.4 months for the Llanos. Postpartum abstinence was also 3 months shorter on average in the Llanos than in the Altiplano. These differences were clearly reflected in the durations of postpartum insusceptibility to pregnancy, which were 13.5 months in Bolivia, 14.8 and 13.8 months in the Altiplano and Valles, and only 10.1 months in the Llanos. But contraceptive usage was much more common in the Llanos, where 42.9% of women in union used a method vs. 24.7% in the Altiplano and 30.8% in the Valles. Women in the Llanos were also much more likely to use a modern method.
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