Viviana Salinas

Viviana Salinas Ulloa is a Chilean sociologist and demographer who is an associate professor at the Institute of Sociology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

Her research has focused on family demography, reproductive health, fertility, child development, and longitudinal analysis.

From 2018 to 2022, she directed the Millennium Nucleus for the Study of the Life Course and Vulnerability (MLIV), an interdisciplinary research center focused on the longitudinal study of different dimensions of social vulnerability.

Academic career

Salinas studied sociology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She subsequently pursued graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a master's degree in sociology and a PhD in sociology, specializing in demography.

She subsequently pursued her academic career at the Institute of Sociology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where she became an associate professor. She has also held positions in graduate education and served as head of the university's PhD program in sociology.

In 2018, the Millennium Science Initiative awarded funding for the creation of the Millennium Nucleus for the Study of the Life Course and Vulnerability (MLIV), with Salinas as its director.

The center brought together researchers from different disciplines to study processes of vulnerability across the life course, including education, employment, retirement, health, well-being, and family and demographic dynamics. During its operation, MLIV conducted research on vulnerability from a longitudinal perspective and included researchers from several Chilean and foreign universities.

Research

Part of Salinas's research has examined changes in fertility and family formation in Chile. Her work has addressed topics including non-marital cohabitation, union dissolution, adolescent fertility, and the social and educational outcomes associated with reproductive decisions.

With economist Damian Clarke, Salinas studied the effects of expanded access to emergency contraception in Chile's public health system. The study, published in Demography in 2021, used administrative data covering the period from 2002 to 2016 to examine its effects on reproductive health outcomes.

She has also studied the relationship between adolescent fertility and educational trajectories. In a study with Valentina Jorquera-Samter, published in Demographic Research in 2022, they analyzed administrative data on Chilean students between 2011 and 2018. The study examined gender differences in the association between adolescent parenthood and high school completion.

Another line of her research has addressed social conditions associated with child development. With Jael Goldsmith Weil, Salinas examined the relationship between family income, maternal education, and childhood weight in Chile. The study was published in the Revista Chilena de Pediatría in 2020.

Public engagement

Salinas has participated in public discussions in Chile concerning demographic change, particularly declining fertility and population ageing. In 2013, she discussed Chile's demographic development with Emol, in the context of census results and the country's demographic dividend associated with declining dependency ratios.

During the following decade, she continued to be consulted by the Chilean media about demographic trends. In 2023, she discussed with Radio Cooperativa factors associated with declining fertility in Chile, including increased levels of education and women's labor-force participation.

In 2025, Salinas discussed declining birth rates and their relationship with population ageing, care policies, and migration in an interview with Radio Concierto.

Papers

• Salinas, Viviana; Jorquera-Samter, Valentina (2022). "Adolescent fertility and high school completion in Chile: Exploring gender differences". Demographic Research. 47: 967–1008. .
• Clarke, Damian; Salinas, Viviana (2021). "Access to the Emergency Contraceptive Pill and Women's Reproductive Health: Evidence From Public Reform in Chile". Demography. 58 (6): 2291–2314. .
• Salinas, Viviana; Goldsmith Weil, Jael (2020). "Una nueva mirada a los determinantes del peso infantil en la primera infancia". Revista Chilena de Pediatría. 91 (6): 899–907.