Brazil and Europe: a comparative analysis of age structures.

Abstract

The changes in the population structured by age are an important indicator of social, cultural, economic, political and environmental issues that occur in a given space also related to other spaces. Therefore, this paper analyzes, in a comparative way, (i) the way populations from Europe, European countries, Brazil and Brazilian states are constituted according to the age aspect and (ii) the characteristics of several other demographic indicators. The differences between Brazil and Europe today are smaller than in previous decades. When we compare the European countries with Brazilian states the differences are more significant. However, there are several Brazilian states in an advanced form of demographic transition, especially Rio Grande do Sul, having little participation of infantile population, low fecundity rate and annual population growth, and expressive presence of aged population in total population. This is not far from the example of some European countries analyzed.