Jordan Times
Monday, May 16, 2005
Need to balance population
with available resources — Badran
AMMAN (Petra) — Prime Minister Adnan Badran said on Sunday that a balance
between population growth and available resources must be achieved if the fruits
of the development process are to reflect positively on people's quality of
life.
Presiding over a Higher Population Council (HPC) meeting, Badran said Jordan's
economic growth, ranging between seven and eight per cent over the past few
years, combined with successive governments' efforts to expand health and
educational services, would be futile should the increase in population remain
out of control.
According to family planning specialists, an estimated one third of the total
births in Jordan are unplanned. Specialists warn that the Kingdom's population
of 5.3 million could double in 30 years, creating enormous pressure on available
resources.
HPC Secretary General Zuhair Kayed presented the organisation's national
strategy until 2020, which focuses on reproduction health, population and
sustainable development. He said the strategy aims to reduce the present
fertility rate from 3.7 per cent to 2.1 per cent by the end of 2020.
The strategy, he pointed out, also seeks to reduce the mortality rate among
mothers from 41 for every 100, 000 births to less than 30.
Kayed noted that the family planning and reproductive health programmes do not
contravene Islamic teachings.