Middle Eastern countries try to strike a balance; some poor and overpopulated, others rich but lacking manpower.

Middle Eastern countries try to strike a balance

Some poor and overpopulated, others rich but lacking manpower

ROUSHDI El Heneidi thinks that, as far as population goes, there are three kinds of countries in the Middle East:

Those with an excessive rate of population growth, very clear population policies, equally clear demographic targets and government intervention like Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia;

Those, such as Syria, Jordan, Yemen and Sudan, "where numbers are not a problem but the quality of the population needs to be improved'. They are making efforts to reduce infant and maternal mortality and encourage population "quality of life' education;

And a third group that includes the vastly rich and underpopulated Gulf States, "with their ambitious economic plans and lack of a sufficient indigenous population to implement them'. The Fund helps them with population censuses, civil registration, training of health personnel and social workers, and studies on skilled labour migration planning.

Fertility in the region's Arab countries is probably the highest in the world. Women typically give birth to six or seven children. The world average is four. Less than 8 per cent of the labour force of the region are women. The Fund only works in three of the eight Arab countries that encourage population growth--Iraq, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. However...