Latin America’s generational shift: What’s causing record-low birth rates across the region? | CNN

Along Vespucio Sur Avenue, one of the main strips of Santiago, Chile, a massive real estate billboard advertises a new housing complex: “Green areas, barbecue space, pet-friendly sector.” The growing focus on spaces for pets as a major real estate selling point for couples has spread across the region, and the same sign could be seen in Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, or any other major Latin American city. In one of the most upscale neighborhoods of Mexico City, a nail salon sells gel manicures at a similar price to what its neighboring pet grooming business offers for a “premium petunia bath.” The price points might have turned heads years ago, but now it just makes sense. Dogs have become increasingly central to family life. In the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, there are already more dogs than children; the same is true in Quito, Ecuador. The growing humanization of pets in households across Latin America and the Caribbean is perhaps the most tangible symptom of a new generational change. Motherhood is no longer a presumed role, and birth rates are falling at an unprecedented pace. The data comes from the latest Demographic Observatory by ECLAC (the UN Economic Commission fo