Statistics from the Civil Registry show that last year, just 173,920 births were reported, 77,091 fewer than in 2014, when 251,011 were registered.

According to the National Statistics Institute, currently the fertility rate is 1.3 children per woman, which is far from the 2.1 indicated as ideal to prevent excessive aging of the population.

This problem has led to the closure of maternity areas in centers such as the Red Salud Mayor clinic in Temuco, the Tabancura clinic and the Military Hospital.

The director of the Intercultural Global Health Center and an academic at the Universidad del Desarrollo, Baltica Cabieses, told El Mercurio that the wave of migration reported in Chile in recent years has meant that the birth curve is not so steep.

“Since 2006 to date, on average, 50 percent of hospital discharges in the migrant population are due to pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium. In other words, one can say that they are making a quite substantial contribution to the birth rate,” he said.

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