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Health Impact of Demographic Changes in the Gulf States

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Abstract

The Arabian Gulf constist of six states in the Middle East Asia with public health statistics and facilities that are somewhat comparable to those in developed nations. However, family-level indicators, traditional values and customs, religiosity, and religious practices are valued as societal strongholds. Thus, there is a tension between modern and traditional lifestyles, so complicating the theoretical explanations and models of transitions in health, epidemiology, and demography. This chapter reviews (i) population trends – size, distribution, growth, and structure – and (ii) transition in public health statistics, fertility and mortality, using the US Census International Database accessed in 2012 and 2015.

The rapidly falling fertility has reached replacement levels, with low overall mortality levels as well as age-specific mortality rates. Efforts to achieve such a demographic and public health scenario have led to transformations in socioeconomic and infrastructural resources, such as improved living conditions, which in turn hastened the transition of demographics, with respect to the size, structure, and distribution of the population. Both these processes – public health transition and demographic changes – are complementary with each other. Nevertheless, these changes need to be assessed with caution, by policy makers and program planners, in impacting national scenarios, and with impacts on the indigenous population.

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Correspondence to Asharaf Abdul Salam .

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Salam, A.A. (2019). Health Impact of Demographic Changes in the Gulf States. In: Laher, I. (eds) Handbook of Healthcare in the Arab World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_28-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_28-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74365-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74365-3

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  1. Latest

    Health Impact of Demographic Changes in the Gulf States
    Published:
    20 June 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_28-2

  2. Original

    Health Impact of Demographic Changes in the Gulf States
    Published:
    07 March 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74365-3_28-1