Population, territory and sustainable development
The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of current trends, contexts and issues in the spheres of population, territory and sustainable development and examine their public policy implications. Three themes run through the report. The first two are laid out in the empirical chapters (III through X); the third is taken up in the closing chapter. Using the most recent data available (including censuses conducted in the 2010s), the first theme describes and tracks location and spatial mobility patterns for the population of Latin America, focusing on certain kinds of territory. The second explores the linkages between these patterns and sustainable development in different kinds of territory in Latin America and the Caribbean. The third offers considerations and policy proposals for fostering a consistent, synergistic relationship between population location and spatial mobility, on the one hand, and sustainable development, on the other, in the kinds of territory studied.
The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of current trends, contexts and issues in the spheres of population, territory and sustainable development and examine their public policy implications. Three themes run through the report. The first two are laid out in the empirical chapters (III through X); the third is taken up in the closing chapter. Using the most recent data available (including censuses conducted in the 2010s), the first theme describes and tracks location and spatial mobility patterns for the population of Latin America, focusing on certain kinds of territory. The second explores the linkages between these patterns and sustainable development in different kinds of territory in Latin America and the Caribbean. The third offers considerations and policy proposals for fostering a consistent, synergistic relationship between population location and spatial mobility, on the one hand, and sustainable development, on the other, in the kinds of territory studied.
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Table X.2<br />
LATIN AMERICA: EVOLUTION OF THE RELATIVE WEIGHT OF THE POPULATION OF THE<br />
METROPOLITAN MADs OR CAPITAL CITIES IN THE NATIONAL POPULATION, 1950-2000<br />
Country Major administrative division 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010<br />
Argentina Buenos Aires 45.6 48.6 50.3 49.3 47.7 45.8<br />
Bolivia<br />
(Plurinational State of) La Paz 31.4 31.8 29.6 28.4<br />
Brazil<br />
Rio de Janeiro 9.1 9.4 9.7 9.5 8.7 8.5 8.4<br />
São Paulo 17.7 18.3 19.1 21 21.5 21.8 21.6<br />
Chile Metropolitan Region (Santiago) 28.7 32.1 35.5 38.1 39.4 40.1<br />
Colombia Cundinamarca (Bogota) 19.5 16.2 17.6 19.3 19.9 21.7<br />
Costa Rica San José 35.2 36.5 37.1 36.8 35.3<br />
Cuba Havana 27.8 27 25.9 26.1<br />
Ecuador<br />
Pichincha (Quito) 12.1 12.9 15.2 17 18.1 19.8 17.8<br />
Guayas 18.2 21.5 23.2 25.0 25.9 27.4 25.2<br />
El Salvador San Salvador 16 18.4 20.6 29.5 27.3<br />
Guatemala Guatemala City 15.7 18.9 21.5 21.7 21.8 22.6<br />
Department of L’Ouest<br />
Haiti<br />
(Port-au-Prince) 21.1 27.9 30.7 37<br />
Honduras Francisco Morazán (Tegucigalpa) 13.8 15.1 17.1 18.4 18.1<br />
Federal District <strong>and</strong><br />
Mexico<br />
State of Mexico 17.2 19.4 22.2 24.5 22.2 22.3 21.4<br />
Nicaragua Managua 15.3 20.8 25.9 25.1 24.6<br />
Panama Panama City 30.8 34.6 40.4 44.8 46 48.9 50.3<br />
Paraguay Asunción 27.1 28.5 29.3 31.4 32.9 36.3<br />
Peru Lima 14.6 22.7 28 30.5 31.9 34<br />
Dominican Republic National District (Santo Domingo) 11.2 15.3 20.3 27.6 30.1 31.9<br />
Uruguay Montevideo 56.3 56 56.7 56.5 55.9<br />
Venezuela<br />
Capital District, Mir<strong>and</strong>a,<br />
(Bolivarian Republic of) Vargas (Caracas) 19.6 23.3 25.3 24.1 22 19.4<br />
Source: Economic Commission for Latin America <strong>and</strong> the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of Spatial distribution <strong>and</strong><br />
urbanization in Latin America <strong>and</strong> the Caribbean (DEPUALC) database.<br />
First, according to census data from the 2000s, levels of demographic concentration in these<br />
MADs were observed to remain high. In fact, four metropolitan MADs were home to over 40% of the<br />
population in their respective countries: Montevideo, Panama City, Buenos Aires <strong>and</strong> the Metropolitan<br />
Region of Santiago. Also high on the list were the Department of L’Ouest (Haiti), Asuncion, San Jose,<br />
Lima <strong>and</strong> the National District (Santo Domingo), which had 30% to 40% of the total national population.<br />
In contrast, Pichincha, the Capital District in Venezuela <strong>and</strong> Francisco Morazán were home to less than<br />
20% of the population of their respective countries.<br />
The main conclusion that can be drawn from table X.2 is that —with the exception of the MADs<br />
in which La Paz, Río de Janeiro, Havana, Montevideo <strong>and</strong> Caracas are located— the population in the<br />
vast majority of the metropolitan MADs came to represent a larger percentage of the total over the period<br />
between 1950 <strong>and</strong> the most recent census for which data is available. However, an analysis of the trend<br />
across the entire period points to a virtual tie between the metropolitan MADs that experienced sustained<br />
growth, which suggests that measures taken to reduce concentration, where such measures have been