This introduction to a detailed study of fertility change in Mexico assesses the available fertility data and describes the sources used traces the beginning and course of the demographic transition in Mexico and describes the work. Mexicos demographic transition began around 1930 with the acceleration of mortality decline. The considerable time lag between the mortality decline and the beginning of the fertility decline resulted in a period of very rapid growth. Between 1955 and 1975 the growth rate exceeded 3% annually. The start of the fertility decline dated to about 1970 the time of a major reform of population policy and creation of institutions to reduce growth. But the fertility decline was not solely the result of population programs. An incipient fertility decline could be observed in the metropolitan and more educated population sectors beginning in the early 1960s. The onset of the mortality decline in the 1930s resulted from the sustained social and economic progress made possible after the conclusion of the Mexican Revolution. Between 1930 and 1980 the adult illiteracy rate declined from 61.2% to 17% while life expectancy increased from 33 years to 63.2 years. In Mexico as in other Latin American countries the mortality decline which disturbed the traditional balance between high mortality and high fertility was the force setting off the demographic transition and the necessary precursor to fertility decline. The first of two main sections of the book focuses on examination of fertility variations in Mexico since around 1900 using cross-sectional and longitudinal methods of analysis. The second part describes the origins history and institutions involved in Mexicos population policies and the demographic programs and their principal results. The influence of population policies in demographic change is assessed especially in the case of fertility changes induced by family planning programs. Both the first and second parts sought to place Mexican fertility trends in the context of the demographic transition and to observe the functioning and effects of demographic programs.
The author examines urban growth in Mexico between 1960 and 1980, with a focus on the socioeconomic factors driving such growth. He makes the case that urban growth is due more to population increase in rural areas than to any expansion of the urban infrastructure.
