Abstract
Peru has contributed about an average share to the tremendous population growth of Latin America. The country's annual growth rate in the last decade was 2.5 per cent.1 The population of Peru has grown from 5 million in 1920 to 7 million in 1940 to almost 11 million in 1960.2 If there is no change in fertility and a continuing decline in mortality, the population will reach 20 million by 1980.3 Yet there is evidence in Peru and other Latin American countries that many families are attempting to lower their fertility. In Santiago, Chile, a survey showed the rate of admittedly provoked abortions to be 16 per cent of all pregnancies;4 in Uruguay, it is estimated that there are three times as many provoked abortions as there are births.5 In Lima, Peru, the number of live births per currently mated woman 40-44 years of age is 3.8 in the upper class (Class I), 4.3 in Class II, 5.3 in Class III, 7.2 in Class IV, and 7.6 in Class V, showing that the three higher classes are limiting their fertility.6 Other studies in Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, San Salvador, and other countries show that there may be a high provoked abortion rate in these countries and a demand for contraceptives and sterilization.
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