Transformations of Adolescent Fertility in Latin America

Yumiko Kamiya, University of California at Berkeley
Piedad Urdinola, University of California at Berkeley
Jennifer Johnson-Hanks, University of California at Berkeley

In many Latin American countries, fertility has fallen dramatically since 1980. In at least three of these counties, the overall decline has consisted of modest declines in age-specific fertility for all ages over 20, alongside increases in adolescent childbearing, across a variety of sociodemographic characteristics. This paper investigates the causes of this unusual pattern, applying descriptive statistics to sets of DHS data for the Dominican Republic (1986, 1996), Brazil (1986, 1996) and Colombia (1986, 1990, 1995, and 2000). We focus especially on the timing of the first birth, the first birth interval, and entry into marriage, as indicators of the process of family formation, and on age-specific sterilization rates as an indicator of the definitive conclusion of childbearing. We propose that - in contrast to contemporary Europe - childbearing in these Latin American countries is being shifted earlier in the life cycle at the same time as fertility is falling.