🧓 Latin America is going gray

IN THIS ISSUE

• Latin America’s population pyramid is starting to invert

• Indigenous arrests add to Guatemalan judiciary’s tarnished reputation

Latin America’s population pyramid is starting to invert

Pensions spark constant debate worldwide, with protests erupting over benefits, spending, retirement ages and whether systems should be public or private. For years, Latin America held a key advantage in this regard: a “demographic dividend,” with young, growing workforces outnumbering retirees, helping sustain the region’s pension systems. But that advantage is fading. 

👉 Why it matters. Latin America’s age pyramid is starting to resemble that of developed nations, with falling birth rates and an aging population fueling long-term fears over the sustainability of welfare systems.

Inverted pyramid. As the charts above show, at the turn of the century Latin America’s population pyramid was close to historic standards, broad at the base and narrowing steadily with age. But that base has since shrunk dramatically: today, the most common ages across the region are 20 to 24, and there are now fewer newborns than 39-year-olds.

🌎 LatAm Report