Abstract:

Abstract Biodemography is one of the branches of Biological Anthropology, which explains population dynamics through an integrating approach between Genetics and Demography. The biological fitness of populations is one of its objects of study and represents the contribution of offspring that survive to childbearing age. This variable is determined by analyzing the reproductive model of women and the pre-reproductive mortality of their offspring. The present work deals with the theoretical definitions related to Biodemography, as well as the introduction of this discipline in Cuba, specifically in a study in the Plaza de la Revolución municipality, a locality with the greatest aging and lowest fertility in the country. The main results of an investigation whose objective was to characterize the biological efficacy of the population residing in the aforementioned territory are presented. The data was obtained through surveys applied to 1200 women between 55 and 64 years of age. Low biological efficacy was evidenced by the frequent practice of induced abortions, the use of contraception and the small effective family size, which represented approximately half of the pregnancy rate. The analysis, carried out from a biodemographic perspective, contributed to understanding the effect of voluntary termination of pregnancy on genetic transmission and on the replacement of generations

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