AMMAN -- Some 40 local, Arab and international experts in demographic policies and population issues convened here on Tuesday to draw up a regional framework for integrating demographic transition with local development plans and programmes.
The two-day meeting is organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Higher Population Council (HPC).
"Linking demographic transition to development programmes is a rather complicated and important issue which faces the Arab world. Experts and lawmakers are now concerned with the issue, particularly that development policies were shaped in isolation from demographic changes and challenges," UNFPA representative Abdul Aziz Farah said at the opening yesterday.
Demographic transition is identified as a theory describing a possible transition from high and death rates to low birth and death rates as part of the economic development of a country from a pre-industrial to an industrialised economy, according to Wikipedia.
The Kingdom's birth rate has declined from 7.4 in 1976 to around 2.7 in 2006, and is expected to drop further to reach 2.1 by 2020, according to Department of Statistics figures. Currently, 34 per cent of the population is under the age of 14.
Meanwhile, Chief of ESCWA's Social Development Division Francois Farah underlined the role of economic changes in linking demographic issues to development plans to achieve sustainable and comprehensive development.
"A high fertility rate is not a qualitative problem but rather a quantitative one which affects economy, poverty levels, development of human resources, migration and youth issues among others," Farah said.
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair Al Ali, who acted as patron at the event, underlined the importance of forming a regional strategy for integrating demographic transitions with development plans.
"The issue is significant considering the necessity of addressing challenges posed by the expected demographic dividend and the need for development policies that take into consideration the demographic transition ... rather than merely considering the population's general indicators of size and growth average," Al-Ali said.
The HPC recently organised a forum on population and development with special focus on the demographic dividend, a term used to describe a rise in the rate of economic growth due to a rising share of working age people in a population.
The forum sought to draw up plans to benefit from the demographic gift the country is expected to witness during the period 2010-2050.
The demographic gift refers to the initially favourable effect of falling fertility rates on the ratio of the working population to the dependent population.
By Hana Namrouqa
© Jordan Times 2007
