CELADE's recent experiences with national demographic surveys in Latin America. The case of Guyana

Includes bibliography

Socio-demographic analysis of youth in the Caribbean- a three country case study

Many Caribbean youth are doing reasonably well. They live in loving and caring families, attend school and are involved in various social activities in their communities. The health and well-being of the children and youth1 in the Caribbean is, and has been, the centre of attention of many studies, meetings and policy directives set at the regional, subregional and national levels. Programmes have been put in place to address the basic needs of young children in the areas of health and education and to provide guidance and directives to youth and adolescents in the area of professional formation and transition to adulthood. Critical issues such as reproductive health and family planning combined with access to education and information on these topics have been promoted to some extent. And finally, the Caribbean is known for rather high school enrolment rates in primary education that hardly show any gender disparities. While the situation is still good for some, growing numbers of children and youth cannot cope anymore with the challenges experienced quite early in their lives. Absent parents, instable care-taking arrangements, violence and aggression subjected to at home, in schools and among their friends, lack of a perspective in schools and the labour-market, early sexual initiation and teenage pregnancies are some of those issues faced by a rising number of young persons in this part of the world. Emotional instability, psychological stress and increased violence are one of the key triggers for increased violence and involvement in crime exhibited by ever younger youth and children. Further, the region is grappling with rising drop-out rates in secondary education, declining quality schooling in the classrooms and increasing numbers of students who leave school without formal certification. Youth unemployment in the formal labour market is high and improving the quality of professional formation along with the provision of adequate employment opportunities would be critical to enable youth to complete consistently and effectively the transition into adulthood and to take advantage of the opportunities to develop and use their human capital in the process. On a rather general note, the region does not suffer from a shortage of policies and programmes to address the very specific needs of children and youth, but the prominent and severe lack of systematic analysis and monitoring of the situation of children, youth and young families in the Caribbean does not allow for targeted and efficient interventions that promise successful outcomes on the long term. In an effort to assist interested governments to fill this analytical gap, various initiatives are underway to enhance data collection and their systematic analysis2. Population and household censuses are conducted every decade and a variety of household surveys, such as surveys of living conditions, labour force surveys and special surveys focusing on particular sub-groups of the population are conducted, dependent on the resources available, to a varying degree in the countries of the region. One such example is the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)-funded Multi-Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) that assess the situation of children and youth in a country. Over the past years and at present, UNICEF has launched a series of surveys in a number of countries in the Caribbean3. But more needs to be done to ensure that the data available is analyzed to provide the empirical background information for evidence-based policy formulation and monitoring of the efficiency and effectiveness of the efforts undertaken.

Social Panorama of Latin America 2000-2001

Includes bibliography

Social Panorama of Latin America 2008

Includes bibliography

Digest of selected demographic and social indicators 1960-1994 for CDCC member countries

Includes bibliography

Demographic change and its influence on development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Millennium development goals: progress towards the right to health in Latin america and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Compendium of practices on the implementation of ICT questions in households and businesses surveys in Latin America and the Caribbean 2010

Includes bibliography

National innovation surveys in Latin America: empirical evidence and policy implications

Includes bibliography

National innovation surveys in latin America: empirical evidence and policy implications

Includes bibliography

Make, buy and and cooperate in innovation: evidence from Uruguayan manufacturing surveys and other innovation studies

Includes bibliography

Innovation and cooperation in Latin America: evidence from national innovations surveys in a comparative perspective

Includes bibliography

Towards an information society measurement instrument for Latin America and the Caribbean: getting started with census, household and business surveys

Includes bibliography

Social dimensions of economic development and productivity: inequality and social performance

Includes bibliography

Demographic trends and social equity: challenges for the health sector

Includes bibliography