The disappointing growth in the ESCWA region during the 1980s and 1990s was, in part, due to the failure to balance the decline in investment with an equivalent increase in human capital. The latest issue in this series analyses three member States - Egypt, Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic - over the period 1975-2000 and concludes that investment and human capital were the main sources of long-term growth and that, while total factor productivity was low, it was not negative.

  This document highlights the course of fertility and mortality transition, and examines in rural and urban populations in the 22 countries of the Arab region for the period 1980 – 2050. Additionally, it exposes age-structural changes and ageing of rural populations for the period 1980 – 2015 in eight selected countries, namely, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Syrian Arab Republic, Somalia and Yemen.

The development of appropriate financial instruments, provision of financial resources and venture capital, and support for and strengthening of innovative operations and pioneering work are essential in order to facilitate the provision of innovative solutions and the creation in the ESCWA region of a knowledge-based economy.

  This document consists of two parts. The first part includes the experiences and particularities of certain states, with the aim to identify factors conducive to achieving social welfare. The second part sets out general social policy directions that can be adopted in the Arab countries as they can provide a reference for decision makers and others working in the field of social development and involved in planning policies and related programmes.