YEMEN POPULATION MAY REACH 61 MILLION BY 2035-REPORT

SANA'A, May 30 (Saba) - Yemen's population has risen fivefold since
1950 from 4.3 million to 19.7 million in 2004, according to the
report of the Shura Healthcare and Population presented on Saturday.

The normal rate of growth increased from 1.8 per cent in 1957 to 3.7
per cent in 1994, the report said.

It expected that the population will be 61 million souls by 2035 in
case of steady fertility rate and stay at 43 million souls in case
of decreased fertility rate.

The report was discussed during the Shura sitting headed by Shura
Chairman Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani that was dedicated to discussing the
topic of development and population. It also highlighted child
mortality rate saying it is one of the world's highest.

There are 69.2 deaths per thousand children and there are 95 deaths
per thousand children below 5, it noted. There are also 365 deaths
per 100000 mothers in the country, it added.

Following up the impacts of the population growth on the possibility
of improving the livelihoods of individuals and families, the report
said the growth will affect various sectors, mainly workforce, child
support, new employments and Gross Domestic Product per Capita. 'It
will also affect the sectors of education, healthcare and natural
resources.'

The report reached some recommendations that stressed the importance
of promoting the political commitment toward the population issues
and integrating the issues into local development plans, boosting
the partnership with international and local organizations and
building institutional and technical abilities of the Secretariat
General of the National Population Council and populace activities
coordination committees in the governorates.

The recommendations also included raising awareness about the
population issues through concentrated programs and activities on
all fronts, boosting and modernizing reproductive healthcare and
presenting the issues of healthcare and population in the pubic,
university and technical education curricula.

FR