Population Explosion

Latin America is in the midst of a "population explosion." Its people are multiplying 2 1/2 times as fast as the populations in the rest of the world. Right now, the population of Latin America and the Caribbean islands, as tabulated by Washington's Population Reference Bureau (a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization), is some 173 million--just about the same as the U.S. and Canada together. But if present growth rates should continue until the year 2000, Latin America and the West Indies would top the U.S. plus Canada by 550 million to 250 million. Fastest-growing Latin country: Costa Rica, which adds 3.2% a year, slowest, Argentina, with 1.6% (v. the U.S., with 1.7%).

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