Fertility, mortality, migration and family planning in the Yemen Arab Republic

Abstract Until the end of the seven years' civil war following the revolution of 1962, almost no reliable statistical information of any kind about the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and its people was available. Since President al-Hamdi's takeover of 1974, the demand for more accurate statistics for developing planning has led to a number of studies which give us the first numerical insights into the dynamics of the Yemen's population. The National Population Census of 1975 is the most important of these studies since it showed two things very clearly. First, it indicated that the Yemen's population is large and concentrated in selected rural areas where there are real problems of crowding and shortages of good agricultural land. Secondly, the Census showed that the lack of domestic economic opportunities partially related to the high rural population densities, and the numerous opportunities in the oil-rich states of the Middle East, especially Sa'udi Arabia, had resulted in an out-migration of young males of prime ages of very large proportions. This article elaborates further on the dynamics of the population in Yemen and reports on the results of a small sample survey carried out in May 1976which provides further insights into the factors affecting fertility and mortality during this early stage of the Yemen's economic and social development.