Choices will have to be made to harmonize these indicators and make them comparable. In all Latin American countries with a high proportion of indigenous people, considerable differences in mortality exist between indigenous and non-indigenous populations. These differences are well documented for levels of infant and child mortality. Use of the maternal orphanhood method permits comparison of adult female mortality levels between indigenous and non-indigenous populations. A variant of the method provides estimates for a specific moment between two surveys or censuses and enables assesment of the consistency of the different estimates.
Results show that in both countries adult female mortality is higher for the indigenous population.
Comparison with infant mortality levels reveals differences in the mortality patterns between the two ethnic groups. As a consequence, differences in levels of adult mortality between indigenous and non-indigenous populations are higher than differences in infant mortality. In Bolivia estimates are not as consistent as in Guatemala. During 1980-1988, differences between the two ethnic groups in the decline of mortality resulted in smaller differences in infant mortality than in adult mortality. Although not all the results obtained from the maternal orphanhood method are consistent, it proves useful for obtaining estimates of adult mortality differentials when no other information is available.