Country Comments

Chile has been exceeding ecologically sustainable levels for the past decade. Fertility rates have been below replacement since the turn of the century thanks to successful integration of family planning into its National Health System that coincided with improved maternal and child health. Chile is now a leader in South American for maternal, perinatal, and infant mortality reduction. However Chile’s population is still growing, largely driven by immigration. One of South America’s most stable countries economically and politically, Chile has become an attractive destination for migrants from the Americas and other regions. Between 2010 and 2015, immigration to Chile grew at a faster rate than anywhere else in Latin America.

The country’s current Constitution reinforces a development model based on the exploitation and export of natural resources. The consequences of this exploitation of natural resources—including the deterioration of biodiversity— affect the entire country. They have transformed natural areas at the whim of the global demand for the country’s most valuable resources copper, lithium, avocados, salmon, paper pulp. In the North, mining has destabilized and weakened the local fauna and flora, covering the desert landscape with the ridges of giant excavations. (1)

(1) (NORIA- Network of Researchers in International Affairs: https://www.noria-research.com/chile-the-social-crisis/)