Providing a concise, comprehensive overview of Mexico's population, its history, current demographic features, and future growth potential, Alba establishes the bases of Mexico's ongoing population boom, placing it in its social context. He also considers repercussions of past and present demographic trends and evaluates current population policies as set by the Mexican government. Presented in a readily accessible format and highlighted by a generous number of tables and charts available to an English-speaking audience for the first time, Alba's critical data on contributory demographic phenomena—a sustained high-fertility rate, steadily declining mortality rate, migratory movements, urbanization, and economically active population segments—illuminate the basic trends of Mexico's population since the 1910 Revolution. Alba offers the first authoritative account of the population of Mexico, a country that has experienced not only a population explosion, but a simultaneous urban explosion. Combining demographic data with an analysis of future trends in the economy, culture, and social health of Mexican society, The Population of Mexico is not only a landmark achievement in its own right, but also a model for how population explosions will affect the general development of the Third World. Alba believes that family planning as a tool of demographic policy may not have the expected societal results. Its choice is due to reluctance to define population policies and set target levels and rates for demographic variables. Attainment of a demographic objective does not necessarily mean that the only or even the most appropriate tools are demographic. Entry by increasing numbers of women into the work force and participation of all population sectors in the benefits, options, and accomplishments of development can be more effective in reducing birth rates than any measures of inducement or coercion. Family planning should be incorporated into other economic and social programs.

The field of political demography - the politics of population change - is dramatically underrepresented in political science. At a time when demographic changes - aging in the rich world, youth bulges in the developing world, ethnic and religious shifts, migration, and urbanization - are waxing as never before, this neglect is especially glaring and starkly contrasts with the enormous interest coming from policymakers and the media. "Ten years ago, [demography] was hardly on the radar screen," remarks Richard Jackson and Neil Howe of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, two contributors to this volume. "Today," they continue, "it dominates almost any discussion of America's long-term fiscal, economic, or foreign-policy direction." Demography is the most predictable of the social sciences: children born in the last five years will be the new workers, voters, soldiers, and potential insurgents of 2025 and the political elites of the 2050s. Whether in the West or the developing world, political scientists urgently need to understand the tectonics of demography in order to grasp the full context of today's political developments. This book begins to fill the gap from a global and historical perspective and with the hope that scholars and policymakers will take its insights on board to develop enlightened policies for our collective future.

This book describes and analyzes a wealth of data about Mexico Citys growth, change, and spatial patterns. Applying modern techniques of geographic information systems and cluster analysis, the authors reveal many previously unknown or unrecognized trends and patterns. The authors provide historical background, analyze key findings and relationships, and tie their results to the literature on Mexico City and other giant cities. The United Nations predicts the emergence of many more giant cities worldwide over the next quarter century, most of which will appear in the developing world. Mexico Megacity may be a milestone from a comparative perspective in increasing knowledge about one developing world megacity and offering analytical tools to study others. With a population of 15 million persons in 1990, Mexico City is one of the worlds largest cities. It is a famous center of civilizations and culture and one of the economic capitals of the Americas, but it also has serious social and economic problems, including large impoverished zones, severe environmental degradation, crime, and overpopulation. This book describes and analyzes growth, change, and spatial patterns in Mexico City, looking at urbanization, population, marriage and fertility, health and mortality, migration, environment and housing, social characteristics, the economy, labor force, and corporate structure. Applying modern techniques of geographic information systems and spatial analysis, the authors reveal many previously unknown or unrecognized trends and patterns. In a capstone chapter, they summarize the spatial patterns in a series of cluster analyses that identify distinctive zones within the metropolisa prosperous core, surrounding complex ring patterns, an impoverished zone, and semi-rural arms. They also compare the pattern of Mexico Citys cluster zones to the classical and developmental literature on cities. In closing, the authors suggest government policies that would foster optimal future development of an even larger metropolis. This book addresses a topic of growing importance. The United Nations predicts the emergence of many more giant cities worldwide over the next quarter century, most of which will appear in the developing world. Mexico Megacity is a milestone work that increases our knowledge about one developing world megacity while offering analytical tools for studying others.

This research proposal is aimed to analyze the economic, social and political foreseeable scenarios for Mexico by the year 2030. Starting from the analyzes recent economic, social and political developments, it continuous searching the trends in specific economic issues such as international commerce, energy, employment, environmental constraints, etc.; social trends such as demographic transition, fertility, population growth, aging, migration, education, health, housing, human development, etc. and political trends such as democratization processes, social upheaval, human rights, etc. Finally, the research will conclude describing and discussing the scenarios at three levels: pessimistic, more realistic and optimistic. The key findings will be analyzed in more detail. The methodology to be used are time series analysis for historical data, correlation analysis for data series of the different variables, the Delphi technique, panel of experts, interviews to some clue economic, social and political actors. Also for the analysis, will be used prospective techniques. The final paper will identify the factors that will be most important in shaping the economic, social and political landscape of Mexico in 2030 and beyond. It will examine how the Mexican society will cope with the broad range of challenges and will assess what conditions may be key to transforming economic, social and political trends into security and social welfare issues.

Over the next 20 years, most low-income countries will, for the first time, become more urban than rural. Understanding demographic trends in the cities of the developing world is critical to those countries - their societies, economies, and environments. The benefits from urbanization cannot be overlooked, but the speed and sheer scale of this transformation presents many challenges. In this uniquely thorough and authoritative volume, 16 of the world's leading scholars on urban population and development have worked together to produce the most comprehensive and detailed analysis of the changes taking place in cities and their implications and impacts. They focus on population dynamics, social and economic differentiation, fertility and reproductive health, mortality and morbidity, labor force, and urban governance. As many national governments decentralize and devolve their functions, the nature of urban management and governance is undergoing fundamental transformation, with programs in poverty alleviation, health, education, and public services increasingly being deposited in the hands of untested municipal and regional governments. Cities Transformed identifies a new class of policy maker emerging to take up the growing responsibilities. Drawing from a wide variety of data sources, many of them previously inaccessible, this essential text will become the benchmark for all involved in city-level research, policy, planning, and investment decisions. The National Research Council is a private, non-profit institution based in Washington, DC, providing services to the US government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The editors are members of the Council's Panel on Urban Population Dynamics.

The world is at an inflection point. Advancing technologies are creating new opportunities and challenges. Great demographic changes are occurring rapidly, with significant consequences. Governance everywhere is in disarray. A new world is emerging. These are some of the key insights to emerge from a series of interdisciplinary roundtables and global expert contributions hosted by the Hoover Institution. In these pages, George P. Shultz and James Timbie examine a range of issues shaping our present and future, region by region. Concrete proposals address migration, reversing the decline of K–12 education, updating the social safety net, maintaining economic productivity, protecting our democratic processes, improving national security, and more. Meeting these transformational challenges will require international cooperation, constructive engagement, and strong governance. The United States is well positioned to ride this wave of change—and lead other nations in doing the same.

This open access book investigates the link between income inequality and socio-economic residential segregation in 24 large urban regions in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. It offers a unique global overview of segregation trends based on case studies by local author teams. The book shows important global trends in segregation, and proposes a Global Segregation Thesis. Rising inequalities lead to rising levels of socio-economic segregation almost everywhere in the world. Levels of inequality and segregation are higher in cities in lower income countries, but the growth in inequality and segregation is faster in cities in high-income countries. This is causing convergence of segregation trends. Professionalisation of the workforce is leading to changing residential patterns. High-income workers are moving to city centres or to attractive coastal areas and gated communities, while poverty is increasingly suburbanising. As a result, the urban geography of inequality changes faster and is more pronounced than changes in segregation levels. Rising levels of inequality and segregation pose huge challenges for the future social sustainability of cities, as cities are no longer places of opportunities for all.