Country Comments

Paraguay is a landlocked country in central South America with substantial sub tropical forest and vast wildernesses. The biocapacity and available resources could sustainably handle three times as many citizens at current consumption rates.

Unfortunately these vast resources are being exploited rapidly by large-scale agricultural activity that began in the 1980s, accompanied by massive deforestation in the country’s eastern region. According to a study by the School of Agriculture of the National University of Asuncion, eastern Paraguay alone has lost more than half of its forest cover of 5.7 million hectares in the last 36 years. (1)

Total fertility rates have gradually decreased over the years to a level of roughly 2.5 children per woman today. The country has one of the highest contraceptive prevalence rates in Latin America. Paraguay’s emphasis on rural programs brought equity to modern contraceptive use so that by 2008, family planning reached approximately 70 percent of both rural and urban populations. However challenges remain as the country adds a net 80,000 more people every year after losing an additional 20% annually to emigration.

(1) https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/no-choice-why-communities-in-paraguay-are-cutting-down-forest-to-survive/