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  • Title: Demographic research in the Arab Middle East: opportunities, barriers, and prospects.
    Author: Weller RH.
    Journal: Popul Bull U N Econ Comm West Asia; 1981 Jun; (20):47-61. PubMed ID: 12311521.
    Abstract:
    The demographic characteristics of the Arab region that present opportunities for population research are described, and existing obstacles to research are discussed. Additionally, the prospects for improving the situation are explored. The combination of high fertility, moderately low mortality, and in some instances massive new immigration have produced extremely rapid rates of population growth. During the early 1970s the population of the United Arab Emirates increased by an annual rate of at least 15%, Qatar's population by 8.5% annually, and Kuwait's population by 6% annually. Even the labor exporting countries had high rates of population growth. Thus the slowest growth between 1970 and 1975 occurred in Yemen, where the annual rate of population growth was 1.8%. Because of the large growth gap between birth and death rates in the Arab countries, the age composition is very young. Such young age composition reduces measures of fertility and mortality that do not control for age. It also means that rapid population growth will not cease in the near future. These are the major demographic characteristics of the region and some of the major opportunities for demographic research they present. Obstacles to research in the region include the absence of a tradition of census taking or survey research for demographic purposes and the absence of a registration system for vital statistics in many of the countries. According to informed sources, the governments involved are not always supportive of research per se. Political instability often works against conducting demographic research. Another obstacle to demographic research in the Arab Middle East is language. There is a shortage of qualified instructors to teach demography in universities working in Arabic. A promising development for population research is the increase of demographic data collection by the various governments. Also, non-Arab researchers and funding organizations have expressed growing interest in the region.
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