The Demographic Transition in the Nasa Indigenous People and Black Populations of Northern Cauca (Colombia)

The region of Northern Cauca (14 municipalities) is an interethnic-racial Andean area in Colombian southwestern, with indigenous (Nasa people) and black as well as white and mestizo populations, which integrates mountains with valley of Cauca River. In the last three decades the region has experienced a rapid process of modernization associated with a strong agribusiness development (for sugar cane and ethanol production) and industrial companies for maquila export and domestic market that have integrated as labor to women and men of black and indigenous populations. At the same time, this region is part of the largest urban-rural agglomeration whose main pole is Cali city. This paper analysis patterns of fertility and size of households of ethnic minorities (Indigenous and blacks) in comparative terms with the white and mestizo population, using data database fertility population censuses, 1993 and 2005, and other demographic information from households and their members in the database System Identification of Potential Beneficiaries of Social Programs State (SISBEN). Main questions are the following: how the increased levels of schooling and changes in the occupational structure in the region is affecting the demographic transition through women and the different types of household. The results point to note fertility differentials between the two minorities and the majority population studied, taking into account a number of contextual variables such as education, employment, rural-urban migration, and expansion of health services.