The population aging process in the Southern region of Ecuador, 1962-2010

Abstract

Case study where the objective is to describe the historical behavior of the population structure in the provinces of El Oro, Loja and Zamora Chinchipe, which make up the Southern Region of Ecuador, during the period 1962-2010, and to understand the aging process. The research was based on official information from the population and housing censuses. We used the following variables: general population, sex, geographical area, life cycles, the childhood indices, youth, generational of old people, of old age and, of overpopulation aging. In order to determine the rate of growth, the geometric annual growth rate was calculated, and, for the aging, the medians, medians and population quartiles. The population of the Southern Region of Ecuador aged in 7.6 years, with significant variations at the provincial level: in El Oro it was 8.1 years old, in Loja, 7.6 years; and, in Zamora Chinchipe, 4.5 years; The analysis by life cycles shows dissimilar scenarios that serve as a context for health, disease and mortality processes, although it does not address the entire population dynamics. In general, there is evidence of a complex, asymmetric demographic transition in heterogeneous political-geographical spaces, where processes of interrelated biological-social reproduction have been historically generated, but at the same time, dissimilar.