Book Description

During the twentieth century, the Middle East and North African populations, similar to other developing countries worldwide, increased rapidly, climbing from 68 million in 1914, on the eve of World War I, to 325 million in 1998 (including Turkey and Iran). This rapid population growth (an increase of almost five-fold) in less than one century resulted not from massive immigration waves, as was the case in some developed countries such as US, Canada, and Australia, but from high natural increase rates. The textbook format contains a country-by-country analysis using detailed figures and tables, with supplementary sources. The aim of this book is four-fold: First, to examine the phenomenon of the rapid population growth in the Middle East during the twentieth century in line with the Demographic Transition Model. Second, to examine and analyse the various socioeconomic consequences of this growth -- the creation of a wide-based age pyramid and its implications; the rapid urbanization process and increasing housing shortage; increasing governmental expenditures on subsidies of basic foodstuffs and public services, particularly health care, education, and transportation; increasing sh