As economists are reading through Yemen 2013 Human Development Report, which the Ministry of Planning in cooperation with the UN Development Program made available earlier this week, once main data have caught their attention: Yemen high birth rate.
Although the annual average has dropped from a 3.45 in 2008 to 2.58 in 2012, a notable improvement for a country such as Yemen where birth control is still very much a social taboo, economists are concerned that high fertility rate could damper the country's economic progress.
Richard Ottaway, a British MP and Vice-President of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Population Development and Reproductive Health explained speaking on the impact of population growth and poverty, "No country has ever raised itself out of poverty without stabilizing population growth."
The most populous country if the Arabian Peninsula, with 24 million people, Yemen has also the highest birth rate, and unemployment level of the region. And while Gulf countries and the international community have vowed to stand by Yemen while its government is looking at stabilizing its political institutions and economy as to promote stability and growth, both key factors in fighting off terror, economists are warning that unless something is done to curb national population growth Yemen will have a hard time attaining its goals.
If high birth rate will undeniably impact the work market and the state educational institutions Dr Tiziana Leone, a population studies lecturer at the London School of Economics noted that rapid population growth can have devastating effects on national health. "We do see an impact of rapid population growth on poverty and on the health of mothers and babies."
Yemen will have therefore to tackle sensitive issues such child marriages and birth-control if it is to successfully move from under-developed country to developing.