2007 population report to be launched today
Jordan Times
June 27, 2007
AMMAN (JT) — The 2007 State of the World Population report, entitled
Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth, will be officially launched worldwide today.
“In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of world population, 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban areas. By 2030, this is expected to swell to almost 5 billion. Most of the new urbanities will be poor… most cities will struggle to meet current needs,” according to the report, released by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
The report focuses on urbanisation in several contexts: Social, economic and
humanitarian, according to a UNFPA statement. Urbanisation — the increase in the urban share of population — is
inevitable, but it can also be positive.No country in the industrial age has ever achieved
significant economic growth without urbanisation. Cities concentrate
poverty, but they also represent poor people’s best hope of escaping it, the statement said.
“Cities create environmental problems, but they can also create solutions,
concentrating population in cities can contribute to long-term
sustainability. The potential benefits of urbanisation far outweigh the disadvantages. The
challenge is learning how to exploit its possibilities,” the statement
added.
The report, which includes a youth supplement, looks beyond current
problems, it is a call to action.
It examines the implications of impending urban growth and discusses what
needs to be done, with specific attention to poverty reduction and sustainability,
according to the statement.
The Kingdom is witnessing rapid growth and urbanisation, a result of natural
population increase and various economic and social factors in addition to
infrastructure, which plays a major role in the concentration of people in
some cities.
Also, the availability of jobs opportunities in major cities, especially the
capital, encourages internal migration and urbanisation.
Urban, according to the Jordanian definition, is any agglomeration which
consisted of 5,000 people or more in the last census year (2004).
The latest figures from the Department of Statistics show that 82.6 per cent
of the population is urban.
In Zarqa and Amman 90 per cent of the population is urban; Aqaba and Irbid,
over 80 per cent; Mafraq 40 per cent; and Karak, 37 per cent.
This year’s report will be launched under the patronage of UNFPA Goodwill
Ambassador HRH Princess Basma, in the Amman Municipality in recognition of
its role in responding to the continuous expansion of Greater Amman and its
rapid urbanisation.