Overview: Arab States

The Arab States, made up of 22 countries, extends from the Arab Gulf in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west and has a population of about 300 million. The region’s annual population growth rate is 2.7 per cent, compared to 1.5 per cent for the less-developed world as a whole.

According to the 2002 Arab Human Development Report, the average economic growth rate in the region is lower than the population growth rate, and is the lowest in the world after sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, the population of the Arab world is young, with almost 39 per cent below the age of 15 and a median age under 20. Moreover, there has been a sizeable increase in the number of women of reproductive age (during the 1990s, the number grew from 50 to 69 million; a 38 per cent increase). The report recognized significant structural constraints to development.

Fortunately, since the ICPD (which was hosted in Cairo in 1994), Arab governments and growing segments of the general population increasingly recognize that curbing rapid population growth contributes to socio-economic development and to the distribution of its benefits. It does so by helping to achieve a balance between population growth and natural resources, by minimizing the degradation of the environment and pressure on scarce water resources, and by helping to reduce poverty. (It is now estimated that 62 million people in the Arab world live on under $1 per day, and 145 million people live on under $2 per day.)

Since 1990, and especially since the ICPD, much of the Arab world has begun to lay a firmer foundation for accelerating development, attacking poverty, and improving the health of children and the health and status of women. Over the past 12 years, the crude death rate and infant and child mortality rates have fallen appreciably in almost all Arab countries, and trends of expectation of life have continued to be highly positive. The total fertility rate, though still high, has continued to fall in nearly all Arab countries (20 out of 22). This is partly because of higher contraceptive prevalence rates: nine Arab countries now have modern contraceptive use rates over 30 per cent, including six (Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) with rates over 40 per cent. In many countries, though, the contraceptive method mix is skewed towards short-term methods, and the high use of unreliable traditional methods contributes to unwanted pregnancies.

Many Arab countries that are not oil producers now recognize the need to adopt explicit population policies with quantifiable goals. Governments are establishing population commissions to research and formulate population policies responsive to their specific population dynamics, economic development conditions and cultural background. They recognize that formulating responsive population policies and programmes requires high-quality socio-economic, demographic and health data, disaggregated by sex and other social dimensions.

While the gender gap in school enrolment has continued to narrow slowly, inequity and illiteracy still persist in many countries. Several countries have achieved significant women’s educational participation levels but improvements in primary enrolment rates for girls have also been accompanied by higher dropout rates later. Many countries also lag in providing women further economic and social opportunities. The region’s maternal mortality remains high relative to income — more than half of the Arab countries have a maternal mortality ratio exceeding 75 per 100,000 live births.

Governments, religious leaders, national women’s and youth groups, and health professionals’ organizations in Arab countries are making steady progress in publicizing the health risks of female genital cutting (FGC) and are taking measures to end this traditional practice, which is harmful to women and to their reproductive health. Further progress is needed, however.

Issues associated with the large number of youth in the region, including the health situation of adolescents, are beginning to receive higher levels of attention. Among these issues is the persistence of early pregnancies, with their associated higher risks for morbidity and mortality. In spite of entrenched cultural beliefs, especially in rural areas, there is a slowly growing acceptance of the need to promote responsible and safe behaviours and to improve the quality and quantity of reproductive health services for adolescents.

Without exception, Arab countries are facing economic challenges. Poverty has worsened in most countries of the region. Across the board, globalization processes, economic adjustment programmes and the short-term effects of economic reforms are adversely affecting reproductive health services, education and employment (especially for women), slowing progress towards gender equality and the empowerment of women. The global situation since 11 September 2001 has worsened these difficulties. These adverse effects, in the context of rapid urbanization, changing migration patterns, dwindling financial resources for population programmes and increasing prevalence of HIV infections, further challenge the conditions of life for large numbers of people and increase the risk of poverty, especially for women and girls.

The promotion of gender equality and equity, reproductive rights and adolescent reproductive health, and the prevention of FGC and of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS continue to be among the most significant challenges facing population programmes in the region.

Progressively, governments in the Arab region have proceeded to adjust or redefine national population and development policies, strategies and programmes in light of the goals articulated in the ICPD Programme of Action, ICPD+5 and the Millennium Development Goals. These goals continue to provide both challenges and opportunities for many governments, as they incorporate into their national policies critical new dimensions concerning reproduction, adolescents’ concerns, gender equality, women’s empowerment, poverty reduction and environmental protection.

Governments are increasingly encouraging country-level partnerships and alliances. This major policy shift has been stimulated by Sector-Wide Approaches (SWAps), Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs) and other coordination mechanisms, and by the continuing legacy of privatization and structural adjustment programmes.

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