Regional Population and Development Gathering Culminated at ECLAC with Warnings about Low Fertility, Population Ageing and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

The countries participating in the Sixth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which concluded this Thursday at ECLAC's central headquarters in Santiago, Chile, recognized progress on implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, adopted in 2013. However, they called for redoubling efforts to achieve its full implementation and warned about issues such as low fertility, population ageing, and the challenges that people with disabilities in the region face to fully exercise their rights.

The intergovernmental gathering - held on October 29-30 - was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and with Colombia serving as Chair. The participants included delegations from 24 countries and territories belonging to ECLAC, made up of senior authorities from the ministries and areas involved in population and development-related matters in the region, along with representatives of international organizations, academia and civil society.

In the meeting's agreements, the countries called for "enhanced fulfilment of the priority measures of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development, the region's road map on the subject, through specific actions, adequate allocation of resources and the strengthening of appropriate institutional mechanisms for its implementation and follow-up."

"Latin America and the Caribbean is undergoing a rapid demographic change, with sharp impacts on societies, economies and the environment. Population ageing in particular entails important challenges and opportunities for the region's countries. We will see, for example, a significant increase in the demand for pensions, healthcare and long-term care services," Javier Medina Vásquez, ECLAC's acting Deputy Executive Secretary, warned during the meeting's opening session, where he also pointed up the proposal to move towards the "care society" - a shift in the development paradigm that recognizes care as a growing need throughout the entire life cycle, as a human right, as a global public good and as critical work that boosts the economy as a whole.

"We will not achieve a decent life for all people, or equality between women and men, without recognizing, valuing and redistributing care," added Javier Medina Vásquez, speaking on behalf of the Commission's Executive Secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.

Furthermore, the senior official emphasized that 12 years after its adoption, "the Montevideo Consensus, which is the regional expression of the Cairo Programme of Action, is still, along with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a vital tool for continuing to work towards the inclusion of all people in our region, leaving no one behind."

Susana Sottoli, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNFPA, stated meanwhile that "one of our countries' biggest debts historically involves the inclusion of persons with disabilities. They face multiple barriers: lack of accessibility, and greater risk of suffering gender-based violence and rights deprivation. These realities remind us that the disability is not in the people themselves, but rather in the environment that excludes them. It is time to meet their needs and build a more inclusive future."

Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia - the country serving as Chair of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Population and Development - ratified "our government's solid commitment to implementation of the MontevideoConsensuson Population and Development and to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, convinced that it is necessary to further the gains made by the region."

At the meeting's closing session, Simone Cecchini, Director of the CELADE - Population Division of ECLAC, which serves as Technical Secretariat of the Regional Conference, stressed that the Montevideo Consensus obligates us to focus on the inequalities and barriers faced by distinct population groups - and especially persons with disabilities - in exercising their rights.

In the framework of the gathering, ECLAC launched its annual report Demographic Observatory 2025 - Low Fertility in Latin America and the Caribbean: Emerging Trends and Dynamics. There, the Commission warns that the total fertility rate in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 1.8 children per woman in 2024, remaining below replacement level (2.1 children per woman) since 2015. In 2024, the publication adds, 76% of the region's countries and territories recorded rates below that level, which is the threshold needed to keep the population stable in the absence of migration.

Also at the regional meeting, ECLAC presented the document Persons with Disabilities: From Statistical Visibility to the Exercise of Rights, indicating that at least 6.5% of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean lives with some kind of disability, although this proportion could be higher due to limitations in the available methods of measurement. The publication argues that a social and rights-based approach is critical for ensuring the full participation of people with disabilities and moving towards a more just and inclusive society.

The delegates gathered in Santiago requested that ECLAC prepare a new study analyzing the challenges and opportunities that low fertility and population ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean present for sustainable development, inclusion and the full enjoyment of rights in the region. This document will be presented at the Sixth Session of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will take place in August 2026 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The current Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Population and Development was elected during the Conference's Fifth Session, held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia in 2024. It is made up of Colombia as Chair, and Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Honduras, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela as Vice-Chairs.