Venezuelan leads of foreigners in Chile: authorities say they are helping to compensate for fertility fall

The births of foreign mothers in Chile compensate for the drastic decrease in fertility in the country, one of the lowest in the world with a rate of 1.16 per woman in 2023, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported on Monday.

Between 2017 and 2022, the births of foreign mothers went from 6.9% to 18.9%, increasing 2.7 times in five years, according to the «Statistical Yearbook of 2022» of the INE, presented this Monday at a press conference.

«The births of foreign mothers have increased significantly and are compensating for this low fertility rate in Chile,» Alejandra Abufhele, a doctor in demography and professor at the Adolfo Ibáñez University, told the AFP, in the presentation of the report.

According to the INE, the highest percentage of births (20.3%) corresponds to Venezuelan women, followed by Peruvian mothers (10.6%) and Haitian (10.0%). In regions of the northern country, they exceed 40%.

These births are «a fundamental economic contribution.» It will be those children who are going to enter school in a few more years and those who will enter the labor market in the future, said Abufhele.

This increase is concordant «with the explosive increase in migration» in the last five years in Chile, explained the director of the INE, Ricardo Vicuña.

Without the births of foreign mothers, the global fertility rate (TGF or number of children per woman of fertile age) of Chile would be even lower.

The registration of the TGF in 2023 is the least in history.

«The rate is well below what is considered the natural replacement rate of a company, 2.1%,» Vicuña added.

Only 14 countries or territories in the world – no of them in America – have a lower rate than that of Chile, said the INE.

A significant fall in teenage pregnancies, the postponement in the age of women to become mothers; The cost of life and a growing female labor insertion, partly explain the phenomenon, according to experts.

The INE not yet updated the figure of migrant population in the country, which, according to the latest 2017 data, correspond to 4%. On April 30, the data updated after the last national census held in 2024 will be delivered, although projections set the migrant population at 10%.

AFP