Using ageing studies to analyze the baby boom in three Latin American nations.

The 21st century´s first decade witnessed the development of several ageing studies in Latin America. We use three nationally-representative studies of Latin American elderly: CRELES (Costa Rica), MHAS (Mexico) and PREHCO (Puerto Rico) to explore whether it was possible to describe baby boom patterns in these populations, as the ones observed for North America, Europe, and Australia during the post-World War II period. The clearest peak in mean children ever had is detected in Costa Rica: the mean complete fertility increased from around 6 children per woman during the 1930s to almost 8 children per woman near 1950; the increase is greater among more educated women. In Mexico, the mean children ever had for the whole country seems to have been steady during the 1930-1970 period; when disaggregated by education, it is clear that there was a “baby boom curve” for the more educated, while the less educated have nearly constant complete fertility during the same period. In Puerto Rico, fertility was lower than in the other countries. There was a slight increase in complete fertility around 1942 in the whole population; mean children ever born were around 0.5 children lower in the 1950s than in the 1940s. When controlling by education, fertility slightly increased for more educated women at the end of the 1940s.