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28 March 2024

Oil boom halves fertility rate among Emiratis

Published
By Staff

Oil has brought a massive windfall to the Emiratis and turned their country into one of the richest nations. But it has also cut their fertility rate as they now tend to have fewer children.

The findings were included in a new report published by the Abu Dhabi Health Authority (ADHA), covering a period of 30 years until 2007, during which the emirate was turned from a mere desert oasis into one of the most developed cities in the world.

The report showed the fertility rate among Emiratis in Abu Dhabi, the average number of children in families, plunged to 2.3 births per woman in 2007 from as high as 4.4 births in 1990.

“Fertility among Emiratis has been declining over the past 30 years mainly because of urbanisation, development, a delay in marriage and a drastic change in the attitude by most husbands towards the size of the family,” said the report, carried by the Dubai-based Arabic language daily 'Emarat Al Youm'.

The report said new lifestyles also led to a sharp rise in such diseases as obesity as 33 per cent of the Emirati men and 38 per cent of their women are suffering from overweight.

It put the number of Emiratis at around 19 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s total population of nearly 2.3 million at the end of 2010