The Secretary General of the Higher Population Council, Dr. Abla Amawi, underlined the importance of achieving balance between population growth and economic growth, enhancing economic, political and administration development, achieving social cohesion, and maintaining stability and security for Jordanians are national security priorities at the internal level.

During a lecture on the “demographic policy in Jordan and its relationship with national security” at the Royal Jordanian National Defense College on Monday, Amawi indicated the importance of the demographic dimension for development to ensure the optimal investment in the demographic dividend, and highlighted the close link between the demographic dimension and the economic, social and health dimensions of national security. The lecture was aimed at students of national defense and war courses of the “internal security policies” discipline.

Amawi noted that the growth of the percentage of young people at a rate greater than the economic growth rate, the decline in available jobs, the imbalanced distribution of development gains across governorates, weak public-private partnerships, limited access to data and indicators at the sub-national level and the impact of migrations are the main challenges that affect population issues, the realization and investment in the demographic dividend. In addition, these challenges exact additional burdens on development efforts, and increase pressure on the infrastructure and public services including education, health, social and security services.

Amawi indicated that the widening gap between birth and death rates, the inflow of forced migrations and the waves of foreign labor coming from the Arab region and Eastern Asia have contributed to the higher population growth rates in Jordan to reach 5.3% between 2004-2015 compared to 2.6% between 1994-2004. Amawi added that the continuation of the presence of refugees in Jordan will push back the realization of the demographic dividend 27 years.

Further, Amawi stressed the importance of incorporating the demographic dimension into national plans and advocating demographic dividend policies with policy-makers, decision-makers and national and local leaderships. Amawi explained that addressing population-related issues is not the sole responsibility of the public sector but rather a shared responsibility with the non-governmental and private sectors.

An open discussion took place after the lecture during which Amawi answered questions raised by participants.