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LATIN AMERICA | Yesterday 22:23

Living alone: one in four Argentine homes has a single occupant

Argentina tops the region for solo households and low fertility, signalling deep demographic change. Experts warn of an ageing population and urge urgent reforms to pensions and healthcare.

A new report elaborated by researchers at the Universidad Austral and colleagues from other countries in the region gives a detailed account of the major social and demographic changes hitting Argentina and the rest of Latin America.

For example, according to the most recent data, Argentina already leads the region with the highest percentage of unipersonal or single-dweller households: 24.6 percent, followed by Bolivia and Brazil. Or in other words, one in every four “homes” is inhabited by a single person without any other family member, friend or partner living with them.

The study – published by members of REDIFAM (Red de Institutos Universitarios Latinoamericanos de Familia) and Universidad Austral for the recent World Population Day (July 11) – also passes on other data. Against this trend to single-person households, homes with “nuclear families” have dropped to 57 percent of the total while households with “extended families” have remained stable at 17 percent.

This phenomenon, he experts affirm, “reflects the profound transformation in family bonds with impact on the accompaniment of the elderly and the organisation of their care.”

In all Latin America, a marked ascent in multi-generational households (where two or more generations joined by family ties live) can be observed. These add up to 21.5 percent on average, according to the data of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL, in its Spanish acronym). Of course, in such households in today’s region there are less children and more older adults.



Replacement on the decline
Another phenomenon is that Argentina already registers an overall fertility rate of 1.4 children per woman, far off the “threshold” of generational replacement. 

The gross birth rate is around 9.9 births per 1,000 inhabitants, also among the lowest figures in the region. If we add an average life expectancy of 78 years and a median age of 32.9, this all makes for a trend towards an Argentine population with an adult majority.

This report observes a clear trend towards an ageing population in countries such as Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Argentina, owing to an important part of the population being concentrated into more advanced ages.

“For example, Argentina already is no longer a young country and that requires some firm and integral political decisions to be taken. We must rethink our health, labour and pension systems alongside family care in order to be able to sustain an increasingly long-lived population,” affirmed Doctor Lorena Bolzon, president of REDIFAM and dean of Universidad Austral’s Institute of Family Science.

Enrique Garabetyan

Enrique Garabetyan

Redactor especializado en Ciencia, Salud & Tecnología.

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