The historic process of fertility decline was interrupted during the central
decades of the 20th century with an unexpected period of increasing fertility
that has been called the baby boom. Normally it is considered a phenomenon
exclusive to countries participating in the historic demographic transition.
A recent study suggests that a similar trend change in fertility may have also
taken place in a few developing nations at approximately the same time and
with similar characteristics to the fertility boom in the developed world. The
main goal of this paper is to examine the extent to which these trend changes
took place in Latin America and whether or not their characteristics were
similar to those holding in the developed world.