قضايا السكان في الوطن العربي : قراءة في الواقع و التحديات

Abstract EN

Demographic issues and the relationship between population and development constitute areas of research that have not been sufficiently addressed.

Arab countries are characterized by a number of common population features that impact upon their development path.

Despite the expected differences between these countries, many of them face challenges that take the form of a slow demographic transformation, a high fertility rate and related burdens.

Human migration constitutes another challenging issue.

However, the more important issue is the one concerning the qualitative characteristics of the Arab population, that is, the levels of human development and its challenges.

Even though most Arab countries made significant improvements with respect to human development, the gap between them and with each one of them remains wide.

Illiteracy is still widespread, schooling rates are still low, and resources allocated to education and health and to the quality of life are diminishing.

An adequate framework for studying population issues and challenges is to go beyond techniques based on demographic features and factors.

It should include, in particular, the link between development and human development.

By establishing this link across Arab countries, the paper advocates the use of the development perspective to consolidate the population policies and help the decision-akers.