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Children represent one third of UAE population

ABU DHABI - Children in the UAE represent one third of the total population, accounting for more than 1.45 million of the entire population of the country, according to a recent study conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs that focused on child rights in the country.

This number includes 44.000 national children and 61000 expatriate children, said the study, which was made available to Al Anoodo a magazine for children published by the Child Centre at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation.

A report that appeared in the Year Book 2003, meanwhile, showed that the population in the UAE has increased by fifteen fold between 1965 and 1995 and was estimated to be 3.48 million at the end of 2001, with expatriates and their dependents accounting for a substantial percentage.

The report said the Ministry of Planning forecast that this figure would rise to 3.75 million at the end of 2002, - an increase of around 7.6 per cent.

"A noteworthy feature of the population in 2001, was its age structure as the 25-29 year age group, was the largest at around 481.000 followed by the 30-40 year age group at 456.800 and the 35-39 year age group at 426.000," said the report.

It said those in the 10-19 year age group at 504,578 comprised around 15 per cent of the entire population, a figure which underlines the necessity for job creation through continued economic growth.

Those under the age of 50, accounted for 95 per cent of the total population while those in the age groups between 20 and 49 years, males accounted for nearly three times the number of females, said the report.

"With the UAE's low incidence of infant mortality and a life expectancy rate similar to that of other developed countries, further population increase looks inevitable. However, the rate of that increase may be slowing down," said the report.

It said that a survey carried out on 4760 national married women, widows and divorcees in the urban and rural areas of Dubai, revealed a fertility rate of 4.04 births per national woman, but that rate had fallen by 0,16 compared to the census figures of 1993.

These figures also showed that the fertility rate among illiterate women, was more than twice that of women graduates, said the report.

It suggested that another possible tool in tempering the speed of population increase, was the policy of emiratisation, which aims to reduce the country's reliance on foreign workers and preserve its own cultural and religious ethos.