Table A Selected development indicators in the Arab world^{1 2}

Table B Selected health indicators in the Arab world^{1 2}
 

Table A Selected development indicators in the Arab world^{1 2}
 

Indicator	Performance	Comment
General
Population	281 million	Projected to 410-459 millions by 2020
Population growth rate (%)	1.3-3.7	Tunisia has the lowest rate and Palestine the highest. The fertility rate in the Arab world, ie 3.5 births per woman, is higher than the world’s average of 2.7
Education
Illiteracy	58 million	Literacy rates among women doubled in past 30 years but 51% remain illiterate
Years of schooling (mean)	3.4 years	Only lower (1.8-2.3 years) in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
School enrolment rates (%)	Primary 84, secondary 54, tertiary 12.5	Enrolment for girls is lower than for boys
Sociopolitical situation
Index of freedoms	N/A	The index includes political and civil rights, independent media, and accountability of rulers to the ruled. Arab countries score lower than any other region
Social equalities	N/A	The Arab world has the most equal income distribution and lowest level of absolute poverty in the world
Economy
Combined gross domestic product (GDP)	$531bn (£354bn)	Lower than that of Spain ($595bn)
Annual income growth rates	0.5%	It would take 140 years for income to double compared with 10-15 years in many other parts of the world
Unemployment	15%	Lowest in United Arab Emirates (2.6%) and highest in Palestine (51%)
Research and development
Expenditure (as % of GDP)	0.4	Compared with 1.26 for Cuba and 2.9 for Japan. Brain drain is a serious problem in most Arab countries

 

Table B Selected health indicators in the Arab world^{1 2}
 

Indicator	Performance	Comment
General
Life expectancy:
Men	62.6	Figures have improved greatly since 1950-5, when they were 40.5 for men and 42.6 for women
Women	65.2
Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births)	10.2-75.3	Differences in infant mortality are pronounced between rural and urban areas
Child malnutrition/underweight (% of children <5)	3-39	Lebanon has the lowest percentage and Yemen the highest
Maternal mortality (per 100 000 live births)	3-550	Only Kuwait and United Arab Emirates have reduced maternal mortality to a level that is low by international standards. Average maternal mortality is double that of Latin America
Expectation of disability years at birth	5.7-10.9	Women in Arab countries have higher expectation of disability than men; thus they lose most of their initial survival advantage by spending more life-years in disability
Burden of disease
Communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional diseases	40%	The leading cause of death among children aged 0-4 is infectious and parasitic diseases
Non-communicable diseases	45%	Cardiovascular disease is an important contributor to mortality in people aged 15 to 59 years
Injuries	15%
Health systems
Total health expenditure (% of GDP)	1.5-10.1	Only United Arab Emirates scored well on the scales evaluating the responsiveness and the fairness of the health systems. Quality of health care is variable, especially in public institutions. Overemphasis on curative care. Lack of capacity in health policy making
Public expenditure on health (% of total)	55	People of lower classes spend disproportionately higher percentage of their income on health care