The good news first: The birthrate among Uruguayan women is rising again. In 2007 the amount of new born children rose by 1.007 to a total of 48.243.

This puts Uruguay still ahead of most European countries and the US when you compare the number of children per female citizen. Even the though the birthrate has declined from 1955 to 2007 by 33%.

The bad news is actually nothing new - the population of Uruguay is still shrinking as the total numbers of Uruguayans leaving their country due to mostly economical reasons remains higher then the birthrate. "If we can not raise the birthrate further and assume that the mortality rate stays the way it is, we end up with a negative migration rate leaving the country with a declining population" says Carmen Varela, an Uruguayan demography expert.

How is it possible to reverse the phenomenon of a shrinking population? The demographic experts Adela Pellegrino and Americo Miglionico are say that this a task of which politics have to take care of and point out that countries like Sweden have successfully increased their population growth by applying family friendly politics over a long term. If women are forced to a decision between either giving birth or making career it has its effects on the birth rate. While flexible working hours, more and cheaper kinder-gardens are steps towards a situation in which women can accomplish both: family and career.

While Uruguay had 58.900 new born in 1996 - a number significantly higher then 2007 it remains together with Chile and Argentina in the group of Latin American countries with the lowest fertility.