Background: Chile has experienced great changes in its health conditions, due to economical, social and demographic phenomena.
Aim: To underline the moment of the demographic transition in Chile by means of a chronological epidemiological study, using available information.
Material and methods: Data was obtained from registries of the National Statistical Office, General Statistics Direction and National Institute of Statistics.
Results: Birth rate was 41/1000 in 1850, remained stable until the thirties, decreased to 35/1000 in 1965, to 21.3/1000 in 1978 and to 20.5/1000 in 1994. The mortality rate increased from 20.3 to 37/1000 from 1850 to 1901 and the it descended to 5.50/1000 in 1993. The annual population growth was 1% in the forties, increased to 2.5% in 1965 and is 1.6% at the present. The population thus increased from 1,400,000 inhabitants in 1850 to 14,000,000 in 1994. The nuptial rate has remained between 7 and 8/1000 since 1934. Infantile mortality was 337 per 1000 newborns in 1950 and dropped to 12 in 1994. It represented 36% of the total mortality until the sixties, and now represents only 5%. This has contributed to the increase in life expectancy and ageing of our population. Neonatal mortality dropped from 136 per 1000 newborns in 1915 to 6.8 in 1994. Fetal mortality changed from 50 per 1000 newborns in 1936 to 5.3 in 1993.
Conclusions: Several causes have contributed to the changes in the above mentioned indicators. Currently, we are in the third stage of a Demographic transition that began in the sixties.