Demographic changes show progress in development

Jordan has witnessed drastic demographic changes during the past 60 years, with the population rising more than tenfold from 586,000 in 1952 to over 6.2 million by the end of last year, the Department of Statistics (DoS) said on Tuesday. In a statement issued in anticipation of World Population Day, observed on Wednesday, the department listed some of the major demographic changes the Kingdom has gone through in recent decades. Jordan achieved a significant drop in its population growth rate during the 1990s and the early years of the new millennium, the department said, with the rate falling from 4.4 per cent between 1979 and 1994 to 2.2 per cent between 2004 and 2011. The Kingdom has also made strides in improving key demographic indicators of development, the DoS figures showed. The illiteracy rate dropped from 16.7 per cent in 1991 to 6.7 per cent in 2011, while the infant mortality rate fell to 20 deaths per 1,000 births in 2007 compared to 36.8 deaths per 1,000 births in 1990. The maternal mortality rate also dropped from 48 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 19 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2009, according to the DoS.