Yucatan is advancing by leaps and bounds to become a longer-lived society, as family planning, older marriages and an increase in life expectancy generate a 5.7 percent decrease in the number of births compared to last year, and a 22.5 percent decrease in the number of deaths.
For specialists, the transition from high mortality and birth regimes to others of low and controlled levels generates an aging of the population, and although in Yucatan the median age is 30 years old, this has been growing decade by decade and it is expected that in about 20 years the aging of the population will begin to be resented.
According to data from the Yucatan Civil Registry, during 2022, 25,777 births were registered, a figure that decreased 5.7 percent with respect to the previous year, which totaled 27,336. Meanwhile, 165,56 deaths were registered in 2022, a figure that decreased 22.5 percent with respect to the 19,316 registered a year earlier.
Thus, in 2022, 71 people were born every day and 41 men and women died.
The problem is that the number of births is decreasing, as well as the average number of children born alive to women 12 years old or older, since, according to the State Population Council (Conapo), during 2000 the average was 2.6, in 2010 it was 2.3 and in 2020 it was 2.1.
Likewise, deaths are also decreasing. According to the statistics of deaths registered from January to June 2022, published in recent days by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), Yucatan is in 23rd place nationally with the lowest mortality rate, which is 36.4 men and 28.55 women per 10,000 inhabitants; while the national average is higher, 36.9 men and 29.03 women per 10,000 inhabitants.
Part of this is due to the fact that medical advances have increased the life expectancy of Yucatecans, which in the case of women is 77.9 years, while in men it is 71.7 years.
According to specialists, the aging of the population is an intrinsic process of the demographic transition, which is the transition from regimes of high mortality and birth rates to others of low and controlled levels.
The decrease in the birth rate and the progressive increase in life expectancy have a direct impact on the age composition of the population, by relatively reducing the number of people in the younger age groups and increasing the number of people in the older age groups.
A study carried out by the president of Inegi, Graciela Márquez Colín, revealed that in Yucatán the population pyramid is narrowing, so that in 20 years there will be an aging of the population, whose factors are the reduction of mortality and fertility.
The official warned that Yucatan’s population pyramid indicates that it is a young State, which is just beginning to age, since according to official data, in 2000 the median age was 23 years old, while in 2010 it was 26 years old, and the figure updated to 2020 indicated that this age increased to 30 years old.
This aging is already being contemplated by Yucatecan universities. With the aim of improving the competencies of health professionals dedicated to the care of the elderly, the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Yucatan (UADY) created the diploma course “Aging, an interdisciplinary view“.
Jorge Montes Alvarado, professor of the Faculty, pointed out that this training is open to doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists and qualified dentists, since these are the professionals who have the most contact with the sector.
He specified that this topic arises from the need to attend one of the groups that is growing exponentially.
“We want the professionals who care for the elderly to renew their resource management skills, to improve their personal capacity, but also that installed in places such as a home, a residence or an office, in order to provide them with better care,” he said.
In its statistics on deaths from January to June last year, Inegi also revealed that of the total number of deaths in the State, 2 thousand 54 were due to heart disease, 25.93 percent; followed by 757 due to malignant tumors, 9.56 percent; as well as 686 due to diabetes mellitus, 8.66 percent; in fourth place is COVID-19, with 556 cases, 7.02 percent, and 485 due to liver disease, 6.12 percent.
TYT Newsroom
