Jordan Times
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
2007 population report to be launched today
The 2007 State of the World Population report, entitled Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth, will be officially
launched worldwide today.
“In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of world population, 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban
areas. By 2030, this is expected to swell to almost 5 billion. Most of the new urbanities will be poor… most cities will
struggle to meet current needs,” according to the report, released by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
The report focuses on urbanisation in several contexts: Social, economic and humanitarian, according to a UNFPA statement.
Urbanisation — the increase in the urban share of population — is inevitable, but it can also be positive. No country in
the industrial age has ever achieved significant economic growth without urbanisation. Cities concentrate poverty, but they
also represent poor people’s best hope of escaping it, the statement said.
“Cities create environmental problems, but they can also create solutions, concentrating population in cities can contribute
to long-term sustainability. The potential benefits of urbanisation far outweigh the disadvantages. The challenge is learning
how to exploit its possibilities,” the statement added.
The report, which includes a youth supplement, looks beyond current problems, it is a call to action.
It examines the implications of impending urban growth and discusses what needs to be done, with specific attention to
poverty reduction and sustainability, according to the statement.
The Kingdom is witnessing rapid growth and urbanisation, a result of natural population increase and various economic and
social factors in addition to infrastructure, which plays a major role in the concentration of people in some cities.
Also, the availability of jobs opportunities in major cities, especially the capital, encourages internal migration and
urbanisation.
Urban, according to the Jordanian definition, is any agglomeration which consisted of 5,000 people or more in the last
census year (2004).
The latest figures from the Department of Statistics show that 82.6 per cent of the population is urban.
In Zarqa and Amman 90 per cent of the population is urban; Aqaba and Irbid, over 80 per cent; Mafraq 40 per cent; and Karak,
37 per cent.
This year’s report will be launched under the patronage of UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador HRH Princess Basma, in the Amman
Municipality in recognition of its role in responding to the continuous expansion of Greater Amman and its rapid urbanisation.