The Status of the Population in Yemen [Archives:2001/35/Reportage]

Yaser M. Ahmed 
Yemen Times 
Yemen is one of the third world countries countries, which suffers from huge hindrances in the developmental progress. The high increase of the population has a great effect on the natural and industrial resources. Studies in the demographic and population affairs indicate that the population growth rate has reached 3.7 and that can be considered to be one of the highest rates in the world, because it exceeds the natural and industrial resources of the country. Despite the decrease in the of the population rate to 3.5 according to the demographic survey conducted in 1997, the problem still exists until this present moment as it is compared with the neighboring countries and the rest of the world. One of the knotty problems of the population growth in Yemen is the high increase of the fertility. It is estimated that the increase of fertility in Yemen is the main source of some of the inevitable problems, such as the increase of the death among the mothers during childbirth, the deterioration of health services, the decline in the living standards and the deterioration of the status of woman. 
The national policy for population in Yemen has adopted a complete working paper which deals with some critical issues concerning the problems of the population growth in the country. The working paper has covered the strategic study (population growth) for only ten years, (1990-2000). The ten-year study concentrates on the reviewing and supervising of the population conditions through conducting several studies of the population problems. The National Council represented by the General Secretariat takes a great interest on issuing complete documents for the national policy. These documents comprise three items: 1 -The challenges and its problems. 2 – The objectives and principles of the population policy. 3 – The program of the population policy. The second document is the most important of the three since it depends on the accurate analysis of the population indications. The principle of the national policy focuses on the Islamic Law and on the conventions and norms of the society. This is enshrined in the constitution. The objectives of the national policy for the population is to double the efforts for the coordinating council by enhancing and consolidating the contacts with official and non-official institutions. With the improvements in the information technology, an active partnership can be established amongst the different institutions of the country.
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