Presenter(s):

Asharaf Abdul Salam; Hamad Aldossari; Ali Aldosari, Independent Consultant (Arab Demography and Gerontology), India

Abstract

The recent developments delineate the Arab World as an entity with population patterns and trends. Although it has undergone slow and delayed demographic transformations, this region has gained momentum and is thus rapidly improving in epidemiological and health prospects. Such a momentum has driven the Arab World beyond its historical superiority in living quality and lifestyle. This analysis explains the ageing process of the Arab World in the last three decades by utilizing the US Census Bureau International Database. Data of 21 Arab countries extracted for four time periods – 1992, 2002, 2012, and 2022. The dataset gives age-wise (five-year age groups) – from 0-4 to 100+, paving the way for ageing analyses from 60-64 years onwards. Analyses were made to explore hexagenarians, sexagenarians, octogenarians, and centenarians in addition to proportions, percentages, rates, and ratios.
The Arab World, as a whole, has a very complex demographic and gerontologic scenario, characterized by homogeneity in many dimensions but diversity in prominence. Demographic dividend, as the current scenario gives way to population ageing, shortly. Even with the ageing of the population, this homogeneity versus diversity is reflected in the region, with many populations recording a faster ageing process. The elderly persons of hexagenarians, sexagenarians, octogenarians, and centenarians are increasing in numbers and even in proportions. While immigration replaces and camouflages the ageing process in the GCC, the political unrest in the Other West Asia and the Arab Maghreb affects the scenario: the Nile Valley African Horn has a resource-thrift as the basis. Moreover, there are countrywide differentials within each geographic sector. With all these considerations and the increasing ageing of the aged, the Arab World demands ageing care from many dimensions to develop policies and programs.

Bio(s):

Dr. Asharaf Abdul Salam is a Demographer (Ph.D. from the International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai, India) with the backing of Psychology, having been trained at the United Nations International Institute on Ageing in Malta. Having experience in large-scale data analysis with SPSS, social surveys, health program implementation statistics, research project execution, journalism, health publications, and health management he has established himself as a researcher, trainer, and educator with a special interest in Arab Demography and Gerontology. As an academician, analyst, writer, and researcher he has authored 60 research papers, 6 book chapters, 16 conference presentations, and 6 books. He has current academic interests in Social and Analytical Demography, Population Ageing, Public Health statistics, and Health Management.