EPIDEMIOLOGY OF AGING IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

In the twentieth century great strides in the science of aging were observed. Latin American and Caribbean are in the midst of a demographic transition and certainly in coming decades will require significant changes to society by the government to adopt new ways of confronting the new reality that is expected. The aim of this article is to describe and demonstrate the epidemiology of aging in Latin America and Caribbean presenting some statistics about the aging process of that population and some sociodemographic characteristics of older people and their places. To support this reflection was sought statistical data of the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic - CELADE (2009), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics-IBGE (2012). To conclude, it appears that the aging phenomenon occurs unevenly when compared to economic growth in Latin America. The Latin American population goes through an epidemiological transition and must therefore know all the nuances that surrounds this subject in the way to achieve effective performance.