SANTIAGO, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The population of Latin America and the Caribbean reached 663 million in 2024, 3.8 percent short of the figure projected in 2000, according to a report released by the Chile-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on Thursday.
Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, executive secretary of the UN agency, said in a press release that the birth rate had declined more quickly than expected at the start of the century and that the COVID-19 pandemic and migration flows also contributed to the trend.
The agency calls for "promoting the population's healthy aging and ensuring everyone, especially lower-income groups, access to healthcare and social protection systems that would reduce the impact of greater demand for care on families," he said.
In 2000, experts projected that by 2024 the region's population would reach 689 million, based on fertility and mortality rates that were higher than actually recorded between 2000 and 2023, the report said. ■
