ABSTRACT
Many striking superlatives are being used nowadays to describe the phenomenal increase of population that is taking place throughout the world. A few statistics assist one to place the recent rates of population increase in Latin America in perspective. However, for periods before 1900 the results are clouded by a lack of census data and by the obvious inconsistencies in and unreliability of the various population estimates. The factors responsible for the rapid increase of population in Latin America will probably retain their force until at least 1980. For most parts of Latin America the data are woefully inadequate concerning the three primary factors that influence the rate of population growth–that is, fertility, mortality, and migration. As larger proportions of the lower classes of Latin American societies assemble in and about the larger cities, however, there is a growing tendency to question the belief that a rapidly increasing population is an evidence of social and economic development.
