Jordan Times
Monday, October 25, 2004
Kingdom on track to halve
income poverty by 2015 — report
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — While Jordan has made much progress in promoting health, education and
development for its citizens, negative trends in the field of gender empowerment
are cause for concern, according to a UNDP report released Sunday.
Tracking the Kingdom's progress in meeting the targets of the “Millennium
Development Goals,” the UNDP commissioned report revealed a positive trend in
most areas including enhancing the welfare of citizens and ensuring greater
social equity.
Mohammad Khasawneh, a statistician and poverty expert at the Royal Scientific
Society (RSS) said the percentage of the poor has decreased from 21 per cent in
1992 to 14.2 per cent in 2002 and that abject poverty has declined over the same
period from 6.6 per cent to 4 per cent respectively.
The report noted that the Kingdom is “on track” to achieve the MDG1 of 3.3 per
cent which will halve the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015.
However, the report noted significant challenges, including “inadequate
availability of national data on a regular basis, inefficiency and mismanagement
and limitation in women's participation.”
When looking at the prevalence of extreme hunger among children, data remains
scarce, although available figures show that nutrition-based programmes such as
iron fortified flour and other nourishment-oriented initiatives are improving
child health.
For example, the proportion of children suffering from wasting, as a result of
malnutrition, decreased from 2.8 per cent 1990 to 2 per cent in 2002.
Moreover, the prevalence of underweight children under the age of 5 dropped from
6.4 per cent in 1990 to 4.4 per cent in 2002, and the Kingdom is on track to
reach the MDG target of 3.2 per cent by 2015.
Jordan signed the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 along with 189 other
countries.
Together these countries have agreed to halve poverty and hunger, guarantee
primary education for all boys and girls, reduce under-5 child mortality by
two-thirds, reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters and halt the spread of
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis by the year 2015.
The MDG Jordan Report, formulated jointly with the Ministry of Planning and
International Cooperation, was launched to mark United Nations Day.
“The Kingdom's pursuit of legislative, economic and political development
reforms and integration in the global economy were essential elements of the
progress so far achieved despite regional turmoil,” Minister of Planning and
International Cooperation Basem Awadallah said at the launch.
The minister noted that illiteracy among Jordanians in the 15-24 age group has
decreased from 2.6 per cent in 1990 to 1.2 per cent in 2000.
The minister also drew attention to female enrolment rates in primary education,
which today stand at nearly 98 per cent. Also highlighted was the 92 per cent
school enrolment rate, which means that Jordan is currently some eight points
away from achieving the MDG target of 100 by 2015.
In terms of gender equality, Khasawneh noted an increase in women's political
participation resulting from changes in the quota and Elections Law that brought
six women to the Parliament in 2003 compared to 1 in 1989/1990.
Although the UNDP report commends progress in addressing gender imbalances,
which have significantly increased women's “accessibility to education and
health,” it notes that they “still experience low rates of labour force
participation... and low political empowerment.”
The report noted that the Kingdom is “not on track” in this regard and that
women's participation in parliament currently constitutes only 7.9 per cent. The
MDG for 2015 is 50 per cent.
UNDP Resident Representative Christine McNab said the progressive strides taken
by Jordan were a vital basis for “human security.”
“Such security includes access to clean water and nutritious food, to a
sustainable environment, to health, to education and to decent work,” said McNab.