Demography of Yemen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Demography of Yemen - Essay Example It is to be noticed that this huge economic gap between the Arab countries is a recent phenomenon. In 1960s this gap was quite narrow with the exception of Kuwait and Libya. In 1968 the per capita GNP in Sudan was $130, $190 in Egypt, $290 in Syria and $500 in Saudi Arabia. But five following factors dramatically widen the gap since 1970s. (Winckler, 2005) The important factor of the poor socioeconomic condition in Yemen is political instability which hampers the socioeconomic development plans. Thus, despite the extensive natural resources of oil Yemen remains the poorest countries of the world. Encarta defines demography as "the study of human populations, including their size, growth, density, and distribution, and statistics regarding birth, marriage, disease, and death" The term demography hoists many images. Some people take it as set of numbers and tables to others it is a target group of commercial organizations trying to sell their products. All these views support the static entity of population. But to demographer it has dynamic aspect for the population is changing in many facets. (Winckler, 2005). The changing factors are fertility, mortality and migration. "Other dynamic aspects are the spatial distribution and various socioeconomic characteristics of the population that affect each of the demographic parameters of any given society." (Hameuchad, 1995) The population growth rate remained close to 3. 5% and it makes Yemen the fastest growing country in the region. "Yemen's estimated population of 20m is projected to grow to 70m by 2050." (Oxford Business Group, 2008) Yemen: Economic and Demographic Indicators. 2006-11 Population Population Growth % GDP At current prices GDP Per capita (at PPP) Average household size Labor force Unemployment Rate % 2006 21,622,000 3.08 19,106 884 710 7,287,212 26.2 2007 22,290,000 3.09 21,664 972 710 7,578,593 27.7 2008 22,978,000 3.09 25,863 1,126 710 7,881,885 29.9 2009 23,678,000 3.09 31,577 1,333 710 8,197,253 27.3 2010 24,398,000 3.00 34,261 1,404 710 8,349,000 27.1 2011 25130,000 3.00 35,511 1,453 710 10,612,036 27.1 Source :(Oxford Business Group, 2008) Indicators 2008 1995 2005 2015 2025 Population Midyear population (in thousands) 23,013 14,864 20,745 29,193 39,696 Growth rate (percent) 3.5 3.0 3.5 3.3 2.8 Fertility Total fertility rate (births per woman) 6.4 7.4 6.7 5.8 4.7 Crude birth rate (per 1,000 population)