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The past half-century has seen enormous changes in the demographic makeup of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In the 1950s, LAC had a small population of about 160 million people, less than today's population of Brazil. Two-thirds of Latin Americans lived in rural areas. Families were large and women had one of the highest fertility rates in the world, low levels of education, and few opportunities for work outside the household. Investments in health and education reached only a small fraction of the children, many of whom died before reaching age five. Since then, the size of the LAC population has tripled and the mostly rural population has been transformed into a largely urban population. There have been steep reductions in child mortality, and investments in health and education have increased, today reaching a majority of children. Fertility has been more than halved and the opportunities for women in education and for work outside the household have improved significantly. Life expectancy has grown by 22 years. Less obvious to the casual observer, but of significance for policy makers, a population with a large fraction of dependent children has evolved into a population with fewer dependents and a very large proportion of working-age adults. This overview seeks to introduce the reader to three groups of issues related to population aging in LAC. First is a group of issues related to the support of the aging and poverty in the life cycle. Second is the question of the health transition. Third is an understanding of the fiscal pressures that are likely to accompany population aging and to disentangle the role of demography from the role of policy in that process.

This publication discusses development challenges and successes pertaining to the young generation, while considering how economic policies can help young people during the period of most fundamental changes in their life-the transition from youth to adult status- leaving school and becoming employed, keeping healthy, starting a family, and assuming a responsible role in society. Its main message: investing in the human capital of this generation is critical if developing counties are to make further progress in stimulating growth and reducing poverty. Moreover, it is particularly important to safeguard and develop this human capital during youth transition. The book is organized thus: Part I deals with youthful transitions in a changing world, providing an overview of demographic and other socioeconomic challenges and discusses broadly the implications of these challenges on the youth population; Part II provides thoughts on the transition from schooling; Part III focuses on the youth bulge in developing economies and whether or not it can be an advantage in the labor market; Part IV considers the topic of migration and the youth and examines issues that are particularly related to immigrants and their children; Part V examines the changes in behavior of the young regarding family formation and how these changes are likely to affect the welfare of the young both now and in the future; and Part VI focuses on the concern of how to direct young people's creative potential to promote productive transition to citizenship.