Betty E. Smith
Population and Urbanization in
Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean is the most urbanized region
in the world with approximately
69 % urban population in Middle
America and the Caribbean
and 81.6 % in South America
(Escamilla et al. 2008, HayesMitchell and Godfrey 2008). The
hierarchy of cities reflects preHispanic and colonial settlement
patterns and modern transportation routes. While the largest
metropolitan regions continue to
increase in size and population,
the greatest change is occurring
in the small and medium size
cities.
M
odern ­ stereotypes
of large, well
known cities of
Latin America and
the Caribbean invoke images of carnival in Rio de Janeiro, air pollution in Mexico City,
far reaching skylines of Sao ­Paulo
(Photo 1), border crossing traffic
jams in Tijuana and Juarez, and
widespread poverty on the Caribbean island of Hispañola. In contrast,
the lesser known, award-winning
Curitiba, Brazil offers a model for
urban environmental planning (see
Textbox 1 and Photo 2). Other cities
were built from the ground up as
hopeful experiments in urban design and development planning,
e.g., Brasilia, the capital of Brazil; the industrial Ciudad Guyana,
­Venezuela; and Cancun, Mexico, a
popular tourist destination. Cities
in locations better known for their
flora and fauna than human occu-
pants, like the Galapagos Islands
and Amazon jungle, are also experiencing rapid population growth,
e.g., Manaus near the confluence of
the Rio Negro and Amazon.
The urban landscapes of ­ Latin
America and the Caribbean
changed dramatically during the
period 1950 to 2000. The behemoth
Mexico City and surrounding Federal District still dominate the urban hierarchy of Mexico and Central America (Figure 1); however,
major cities along the United States
border surged in population during
the latter half of the 20th century,
as well as others in central Mexico
and several in Central America. In
the Caribbean the dominant city in
1950, Havana, Cuba, was equalled
in size by three major cities in Haiti and the Dominican Republic during the ensuing 50 years. Likewise
the continent of South America
has seen the foremost 1950 city of
Photo 1: Skylines of Sao Paulo
Photo: dpa / picture-alliance
30
Geographische Rundschau International Edition Vol. 6, No 3 | 2010
Population and Urbanization in Latin America and the Caribbean
Urbanization
It is expected that 75 million more
people will be residing in the cities of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2015 than were residing there in 2005 (Figure 1; Fay and
Laderchi 2005). Those countries in
the region that are less urbanized
today will see the greatest change.
For example, the countries in Central America as well as Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay in South America are expected to have the highest annual growth rate of urban
population (2.8 %) with an absolute
increase of 13 million people between 2005 and 2015 (Baker and Lall
2003). Although the other countries of South America and Mexico will have lower annual growth
rates, the absolute increase in urban population at 58 million will
be substantially larger, moving the
overall average urbanization rate
of Latin America and the Caribbean to a projected 84 % in 2015. The
Caribbean is expected to see an urban population increase of 4 million during the same period.
While the geographic locations
of the largest cities of the urban hierarchy of the region are evident
on population maps (Figure 1), the
growth rate of populations residing in localities with 2,000 or more
inhabitants and mapped by major
administrative divisions sharpens
understanding of changes in population distribution for the period
1950 to 2000. The highest growth
rates are not where the largest
­cities are located but rather in previously remote or sparsely populated areas. This is the result of national public policy and development planning that has occurred
in a changing global context.
During the second half of the
20th century Mexico developed
its international tourism indus-
textbox 1
Curitiba, Brazil: model of good city planning
Situated about 3,050 feet above sea level in southern Brazil at the headwaters of the Iguaçu River
on the Serra do Mar plateau, Curitiba (2010 population 1,896,743) is southwest of Sao Paulo and
connected by a 100 mile rail line that travels southeast through the Atlantic rainforest to the
seaports of Antonina and Paranaguá. In a 1996 Scientific American article, Jonas Rabinovitch, an
urban planner at the U.N., and Josef Leitman, a planner at the World Bank, praised urban planning
strategies practiced in Curitiba, e.g., priority for public transportation over private cars (Photo 2),
development of the public transit system, citizen participation in master plan formation, recycling
efforts and a garbage-purchase program. The American Planning Association recognized Curitiba as a model of environmental and planning practices. By channeling and dispersing growth,
municipal regulations preserved colonial heritage and developed many city parks. An efficient
bus system extends about six miles out from the city center and zoning encourages high density
multi-story development near bus lines. Clear plastic tubes 33 feet long and 9 feet in diameter
serve as bus stops.
Curitiba is a clean, modern city of wide avenues and flower-bedecked pedestrian malls. Initially
Italian, German, Polish, Slav, Ukrainian, and Russian immigrants settled here. Later Japanese,
Syrian and Lebanese arrived. Today ethnic restaurants and architecture reflect cultural diversity.
Decline of coffee and timber industries after 1950 spurred massive rural to urban migration. The
city continues to grow, its population increasing from 1.3 million in 1991 to 1.9 million in 2010.
Photo:
­ uenos Aires joined by half a dozen
B
large cities (Bogotá, Lima, Santiago,
Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizante) as well as numerous
small and intermediate size cities.
What was once referred to as the
hollow core of a continent is rapidly filling with new and growing
settlements.
Photo 2: Curitiba/Brazil, a model in urban governance
try. Towns and villages along the
northern Pacific coast, Baja California Peninsula, and Yucatan Peninsula experienced rapid population growth, especially the city of
Cancun, the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula (called the Mexican Riviera) and the island of Cozumel. The state in Mexico with
the highest population growth rate
between 1950 and 2000 was Quintana Roo, a reflection of tourism
Geographische Rundschau International Edition Vol. 6, No 3 | 2010
developments and associated employment opportunities that attracted permanent residents to the
­Yucatan Peninsula.
In South America the states
and provinces located in the center of the continent experienced
the greatest change between 1950
and 2000. A wide swath of higher growth rates extends from the
south to the northwest of Brazil.
In response to global markets and
31
Betty E. Smith
Urban Population
Percent of
Total Population
90 - 100
80 - 90
70 - 80
60 - 70
50 - 60
13 - 50
Latin America: Urban Population, 1950-2010
Percent of Total Population
80
70
60
50
40
30
City Population
20
Millions
10
0
12.2
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
8.0
2010
4.8
2.6
1.2
0.5
Source: World Urbanization Prospects 2007
KJZ
Figure 1: Latin America: large cities, urban population and growth between 1950 and 2010
government policy, soybean production expanded northward beginning in the 1970’s (Hasse and
Bueno 1996, Jepson et al. 2010). “…
Population growth for that region
was higher than the overall growth
for the country” (Jepson et al. 2010,
p. 203). By the year 2000, Brazil was
the second largest world producer of soy. Today modern soybean,
corn and cotton production propel
urbanization processes throughout
central and northwestern Brazil as
well as eastern portions of Paraguay, Bolivia and Peru.
Small in size but noteworthy in
its high rate of growth is the TriBorder Area (TBA) where the countries of Brazil, Paraguay and Ar-
32
gentina meet (see Textbox 2). A rapidly expanding viticulture region
in west central Argentina drives an
above average growth rate in the
area of the intermediate sized city
of Mendoza. Also noteworthy are
the high urbanization rates in Colombia and eastern Peru, where citizens sought refuge in towns and
cities from guerrilla warfare and
rural violence at various times during the period 1950–2000.
Urban problems
Many of the largest cities of the
­Caribbean and South America, as
well as the popular tourist destinations of Mexico and Central Amer-
ica, are located near the coast and
vulnerable to tropical hurricanes
and subtropical storms (Isla and
Schnack 2010). A long term consideration for coastal cities is sea ­level
rise while short term considerations involve more immediate anthropogenic effects, e.g., degradation of mangrove swamps and depletion of coastal and island fresh
water aquifers. Likewise deforestation and other human modifications of the landscape cause massive downstream flooding, e.g., the
flood of May 2005 in metropolitan
São Paulo and the 2006 floods of the
Acre River that affected the Amazonian city of Rio Branco ­ (Stevaux
et al. 2010). It is the poor, e.g., those
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Population and Urbanization in Latin America and the Caribbean
textbox 2
Tri-Border Area Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay
The Tri-Border Area (TBA) is where the countries of Argentina,
Brazil and Paraguay share common political boundaries (Figure
2). Located about 500 feet above sea level, the area surrounds the
place where the Iguaçu River enters the Paraná River. ­According
to the online World Gazetteer, the urbanized TBA has a total calculated population of more than 700,000 and contains three distinct cities: Ciudad del Este, Paraguay (2010 population: 357,476);
Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil (2010 population: 347,421) and the much
smaller Puerto Iguazú, Argentina (2010 population: 33,605).
Most individuals in Ciudad del Este speak both Spanish and the
­Amerindian language of Guaraní. People of Foz do Iguaçu mostly speak Portuguese and in Puerto Iguazú most people speak
­Spanish.The TBA is transnational, economically interdependent
and best known for nearby Itaipu Dam to the north, Iguaçu Falls to
the south, and the free trade zone of Ciudad del Este on the west
side of the Paraná River.
Economic interdependence and porous borders contribute to a
mix of legal and illegal economic activities. With annual sales
reaching approximately US$ 12 billion, Ciudad del Este is considered third globally in cash transactions after Hong Kong and
Miami. Thousands of people per day cross the Friendship Bridge
from Brazil to Paraguay to visit, shop and do business. Many sales
are illegal, leading to the TBA‘s reputation as the busiest contraband and smuggling center in South America. Trading links exist
to various transnational ethnic mafias that specialize in stolen intellectual property and engage in document forgery, money laundering, contraband smuggling, gunrunning and drug trafficking.
The Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress in the
United States estimated that some of the 55 banks and foreign
exchange shops in Ciudad del Este launder US$ 6 billion per
year, approximately equal to half of the gross domestic product
of ­Paraguay.
In 1975 construction of Itaipu Dam began, a very large eighteen
turbine hydroelectric project on the Paraná River (Figure 2). It
was a driving force for population growth. Nearby Foz do Iguaçu
had a population of 12,000 in 1973, grew to 40,000 in 1975 and to
­approximately 350,000 in 2010. Nearby Ciudad del Este experienced similar growth of population from 7,069 in 1972, to 49,423
in 1982 and nearing 360,000 in 2010. The dam employs about
4,000 ­people, stimulating TBA economies.
Ciudad del Este is the second largest city in Paraguay after the
capital Asunción. In the early 1970’s government planners decided to promote regional trade by establishing a free-trade zone
in Ciudad del Este. Internal and international migratory trends
created the ethnically diverse TBA. Since the early 1980’s, Brazilians have been the largest immigrant group moving to Paraguay.
Inhabitants of the TBA are largely of mixed Spanish, Guaraní and
Portuguese descent. Ethnically diverse, the TBA is also inhabited
by German, Italian, French, and Japanese immigrants, Chinese
and Korean communities, and an estimated 30,000 ethnic Arabs
and Muslims, mostly of Palestinian and Lebanese descent. Many
are descendents of immigrants who arrived 60 years ago. It is
Geographische Rundschau International Edition Vol. 6, No 3 | 2010
Figure 2: Satellite image of the tri-border area of Brazil, Paraguay
and Argentina: 1973 (top) and 2001 (bottom)
estimated by the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin that there were
about 7,500 retailers of Arab ethnicity in Ciudad del Este in 2002.
The nearby, relatively small city of Puerto Iguazú, Argentina is
separated from Ciudad del Este by the Paraná River. However,
it has easy access through Brazil via the Tancredo Neves Bridge
across the Iguaçu River. It is about six miles from Puerto Iguazú
to the central business district of Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. Puerto
Iguazú is popular for lodging and entertainment among tourists
visiting the Argentine side of the UNESCO world heritage site of
Iguaçu Falls.
33
Betty E. Smith
female participation in the workforce and a decline in fertility
rates. While the number of children per woman varies greatly
among countries, the overall average in Latin America declined from
6 to 2.5 during the period 1960 to
2000 (Place and Chase 2005). Fertility changes, improved health care,
and reduced death rates signal that
a demographic transition is occurring. Much of the self built informal sector housing solutions of the
1960s and 1970s have been legitimized and integrated into systems
of public services. In those areas
where this has not occurred there
remains conflict over land and
housing title.
The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have engaged to greater or lesser extents
in what Knox and McCarthy (2005)
describe as a sustainable urban development model. Such a model
synthesizes political, social, demographic, environmental, and economic components. Strides have
been made in the passage of environmental legislation, reduced fertility rates, and provision of housing and clean water. Increased decentralized and participatory planning is occurring in some countries
to achieve appropriate physical urban design for provision of basic
needs. Future cross border planning and governing will likely become more widespread in urban regions that encompass international borders. Nevertheless, in spite of
foreign direct investment and government led industrial development, access to adequate income
remains the single most serious
problem. The response has been
temporary and permanent migration for work ­occurring nationally,
regionally and internationally. Remittances from abroad remain the
single most significant response to
rural and urban problems in Latin
America and the Caribbean. |||
References
AUThor
Responses to urban problems
and thoughts for the future
Acosta, P., P. Fajnzylber and J.H. Lopez 2007: The
impact of remittances on poverty and human
capital: evidence from Latin American household surveys. In: C. Ozden and M. Schiff (eds.):
International migration, economic development & policy. Washington, D.C., pp. 59–98
Professor Dr. Betty E. Smith
Department of Geology and Geography, Eastern Illinois University, 600 Lincoln Avenue,
Charleston, IL 61920 / USA
besmith@eiu.edu
Improved access to education is
usually accompanied by increased
34
Baker, J. and S. Lall 2003: Trends and characteristics of urban poverty in Latin America and
the Caribbean. Washington, D.C.
Escamilla, I., J.L. Scarpaci and A.G. Aguilar 2008:
Cities of Middle America and the Caribbean.
In: S.D. Brunn, M. Hays-Mitchell and D.J. Zeigler
(eds.): Cities of the World. Lanham, Maryland,
pp. 102–141
Fay, M. and C.R. Laderchi 2005: Urban poverty in
Latin America and the Caribbean: Setting the
stage.In: M. Fay (ed.): The urban poor in Latin
America. Washington, D.C, pp. 19–46
Fay, M. 2005: Overview. In: M. Fay (ed.): The urban
poor in Latin America. Washington, D.C.,
pp. 1–18
Garcia, N.O., R.N. Ferreira and E.M. Latrubesse
2010: Climate and geomorphologic-related
­disasters in Latin America. In: E.M. Latrubesse
(ed.): Natural hazards and human-exacerbated disasters in Latin America: special
volumes of geomorphology. Amsterdam,
pp. 1–28
Hasse, G. and F. Bueno 1996: O Brasil da Soja:
Abrindo Fronteiras, Semeando Cidades (The
Brazil of Soy: Opening Frontiers, Sowing
­Cities). Porto Alegre
Hays-Mitchell, M. and B.J. Godfrey 2008: Cities of
South America. In: S.D. Brunn, M. Hays-Mitchell and D.J. Zeigler (eds.): Cities of the World.
Lanham/MD, pp. 142–199
Isla, F.I. and E.J. Schnack 2010: The changing
coastlines of South America. In: E.M. Latrubesse (ed.): Natural hazards and human-exacerbated disasters in Latin America: special
volumes of geomorphology. Amsterdam,
pp. 49–74
Jepson, W., C. Brannstrom and A. Filippi 2010:
­Access Regimes and Regional Land Change in
the Brazilian Cerrado, 1972–2002. Annals of
the Association of American Geographers 100
(1), pp. 87–111
Knox, P.L. and L. McCarthy 2005: Urbanization.
Upper Saddle River, N.J. 2005
Place, S.E. and J. Chase 2005: The Environment,
Population, and Urbanization. In: R.S. Hillman
(ed.): Understanding contemporary Latin
America. Boulder, Colorado, pp. 209–235
Simões de Castro, S. and J.P. de Queiroz Neto
2010: Soil erosion in Brazil from coffee to the
present-day soy bean production. In: E.M.
Latrubesse (ed.): Natural hazards and humanexacerbated disasters in Latin America: special volumes of geomorphology. Amsterdam,
pp. 195–222
Stevaux, J.C., E.M. Latrubesse, M.L. de P. Hermann
and S. Aquino 2010: Floods in urban areas
of Brazil. In: E.M. Latrubesse (ed.): Natural
hazards and human-exacerbated disasters
in Latin America: special volumes of geo­
morphology. Amsterdam, pp. 245–266
World Gazateer. www.world-gazetteer.com;
accessed 30 January 2010
living in riverside and hill slope
shantytowns, who are most impacted by environmental disasters
(Place and Chase 2005). Earthquakes
and volcanoes have devastating effects on cities, e.g., Port-au-Prince,
Haiti suffered massive earthquake
damage in January 2010 (Photo 3).
Additionally, the Caribbean and
west coast of South America are
subject to occasional tsunami damage, such as the ­ February 2010
­devastation in Concepción, Chile.
The urban regions of Latin
America and the Caribbean are
struggling with poverty. That is not
to say that poverty is worse in cities than rural areas? In fact, the opposite is true. However, the sheer
number of people impacted by poverty is greater in cities. For example, more than half of those living
in the largest cities of El Salvador,
Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras
are subsisting under their national poverty lines. According to Fay
(2005), urban poverty differs from
rural poverty in a number of ways:
• urban workers are more integrated into the market economy (in contrast with rural subsistence lifestyles);
• monetization of food consumption increases vulnerability to
price increases;
• urban employment is more
susceptible to macroeconomic
downturns; and there are
• weaker social networks, and
• greater exposure to crime. Associated with urban poverty
are the problems of inadequate
housing, underemployment and
unemployment, lack of services,
air and water pollution, as well
as local and international crime.
For example, violence and terror are spiraling Haiti deeper into poverty and associated gang
warfare. Similarly, destitution
in urban shantytowns in the Andean countries threatens political stability. In addition, there
are issues of deterioration of urban heritage sites.
Geographische Rundschau International Edition Vol. 6, No 3 | 2010