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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Sultanate’s population may reach 4.7m by 2050

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MUSCAT, FEB 29 - The Omani population, if the current fertility and mortality pattern continue, is projected to reach more than 4.7 million in the year 2050. The projected age structure of Omanis aged 60 and older, according to a recent report, will increase to about 13.1 per cent of the population in 2050 compared with 6.1 per cent in 2012. “Their number will be about 617,000 in 2050. In other words, it will increase about five folds,” says the 2018 annual report released by the Ministry of Health.


The average family size, according to the report, is about 7.8 individuals. The woman in her reproductive life gives birth to an average of 3.3 live births. In 2012, the crude death rate (CDR) and crude birth rate (CBR) were 3.2 and 32.1 per 1,000 individuals, respectively. “Given the fertility and mortality pattern seen in 2012, the Omani population will double in 25 to 30 years,” says the report. The Sultanate’s population increased by about 978,000 to about 4.6 million people during the period from mid-2012 to mid-2018.


The rate of change among Omanis was 23.3 per cent. At the same time, by gender the population remained almost equal, with males and females constituting 50.4 per cent and 49.6 per cent, respectively. Married Omanis women, above 15 years of age, is about 50.7 per cent of all women. Women in the reproductive age group of 15 to 49 years represent 27.1 per cent while youth and children under the age of 29 represent the largest segment of Omanis with 64 per cent, making up two-thirds of the total population.


About 34 per cent women, who delivered, spaced children by 3 or more years and 42.5 per cent by 2 to 3 years. The report pointed out, “the health of the population is determined not only by health sector activities, but also by controlling other factors by actions that may be beyond the mandate of the health sector”, said the report. It is thus necessary for health sector to engage with other sectors of the government and society to address such factors; as economic status, education levels, environmental problems, water shortages, housing conditions, individual behaviours and cultures.


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