Special Report: The Latin American middle class (ISSN 17414474)

The expansion of the middle class has taken place against the backdrop of significant demographic changes in Latin America, which are important to examine in some detail. Perhaps the most important feature of these changes is that the Latin American population is now beginning to age. The region has been enjoying an important long term ‘demographic dividend’ – a fall in the dependency ratio (the proportion of the total population that is not of working age). But by the mid-2020s or early 2030s, this demographic dividend will go into reverse: the number of dependents relative to the total population will start increasing again. How societies react to that major turning point will have profound implications for the nature of the Latin American middle class.