The Americas: A Growing, Urban, Aging Population, PAHO Reports

WASHINGTON D.C., September 23rd, 2002-According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), even in spite of declining population growth rates in almost every country, at the beginning of the 21st century the Region's population is growing and is currently 76% urban. The population is also aging and presents a morbidity and mortality profile that shows the coexistence of communicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases.

These and other data are presented in PAHO's key health report released today, Health in the Americas, 2002 edition. This new edition includes for the first time an increased focus on identifying and reducing health inequities, as well as on disaggregating demographical data by sex and incorporating a gender perspective in all analyses.

In the past 20 years the population of the Americas grew by 200 million people, reaching 850 million people in the year 2000. The annual rate of growth varies from 1.3% for the general population to 1.7% for the urban population, to more than 2% for the population over 65 years and to rates between 3% and 5% for those over 85 years-old-the fastest-growing group. The aging of the general population has coincided with an increase in chronic and degenerative diseases and disabilities, which more frequently affect females.

As a result of these demographic changes there have been also changes in the pattern of diseases at the regional level. Two mortality patterns that currently coexist are one typical of poor societal living conditions (infectious and parasitic communicable diseases) and the other of more developed societies (chronic and degenerative noncommunicable diseases), combined with high mortality from accidents and violence. The resulting "epidemiological polarization" magnifies the persistence of significant health gaps between different social groups and geographical areas within countries.

With life expectancy increasing among the Region's population, cardiovascular diseases and malignant neoplasms have become more manifest. Today, more than two-thirds of all reported mortality cases are due to chronic diseases and external causes. The rise in the incidence of neoplasms and endocrine disorders, such as diabetes mellitus Type II, and the still significant relative weight of cardiovascular disease in the mortality profile, are important epidemiological characteristics of the Region's population. Mortality trends due to these causes are also associated with an increase in such risk factors as unplanned urbanization; tobacco use among youth and females; lack of physical exercise; violence; stress, depression, and other mental health problems; and other unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors.

Urbanization brings its own health problems. For example, the rate of increase of life expectancy at birth is decelerating in some countries due to an increase in motor vehicles accidents and violence, which occur at a higher rate in urban settings. Injuries and disabilities have taken on growing importance over the past two decades as a result. These and other health risks have helped raise awareness in all the countries of the Americas regarding the importance of health promotion and prevention activities as powerful public health strategies to stimulate the creation of healthy communities, adoption of healthy behaviors, and reorientation of health services.

In a broad sense, the regional health situation can be perceived as a reflection of the joint impact of dramatic changes in demographic and epidemiological profiles. The overall health situation in the Region of the Americas has steadily improved over the past decades. Notably, these improvements were not uniform for all countries or for all social groups within a single country. The difference in health status between the rich and the poor, as well as between the most and the least equitable societies in term of the distribution of their income, persists despite observable overall improvements.

PAHO, which is the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization, was officially established in 1902. The oldest health organization in the world, PAHO works with all the countries of the Western Hemisphere to improve health and raise the living standards.

For further information please contact Daniel Epstein at: epsteind@paho.org Tel.: (202) 974-3459; Fax: (202) 974-3143 Office of Public Information