Iranian Population to Overtake Russians, Japanese Within 50 Years
Within the next 50 years, the number of people living in Iran will overtake the declining populations in Germany, Japan and even Russia, according to figured compiled in ***The State of World Population 2002,*** Published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Tuesday.
It suggested the current Iranian population of 72.4m will grow by an average of 1.4 percent annually between 2000 and 2005, above the 1.2 percent world average but below the 1.5 percent growth in less developed countries and 2.5 percent in the least developed countries.
Infant mortality in Iran was quoted at 36 per 1,000 live births, below the world average of 55, while Iran's maternal mortality ratio of 130 was also less than the world average of 400, but there remained a large gap with the performance in developed states, IRNA reported.
The report, which focuses on population control as a key to alleviating world poverty, was launched at the United Nations Information Office in London by UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obiad.
"Poverty was more than a lack of income. It was characterized by insecurity, inequality, poor health, including reproductive health, and illiteracy," she told a press conference.
Demographic, social and economic indicators in the reports also suggested that if it achieves membership, Turkey will become by far the most populous country in the European Union, with a population of 98.8m in 2050 compared with 70.8m in Germany.
Within the next 50 years, it also projected that the number of Palestinians in the occupied territories will overtake people living in Israel.
India was also expected to overtake China as the most populous country.
Although there was no direct reference in the report, the effects of war was highlighted by life expectancy rates of only 43 years for men and 43.5 years for women in Afghanistan against world averages of 63.9 years and 68.1 years respectively.
The impact of more than a decade of sanctions against Iraq was also underlined with a higher than average infant mortality rate of 64 per 1,000, the largest in the Middle East and Western Asia. UNFPA said that international goals for poverty reduction and improvement in life quality offered a noble vision, but that achieving and protecting them requirred "both a focus on the goal themselves and sensitivity to the context."
"Universal access to reproductive health care, universal education and women's empowerment are goals in the own right, but they are also conditions for ending poverty," it said.
One of the examples of the work undertaken by the UN agency was quoted in the report regarding the introduction of a pilot income- generation scheme for women in five remote areas in Iran to engage in carpet weaving, fishery, sewing and animal husbandry.