• The region in the world: the general context in 2003
• Countries with contrasting geographical features
• Major progress in data collection
• A largely uncharted demographic history
• Populations and growth rates from 1950 to 2040: spectacular increase and gradual divergence
— Among the world’s fastest growth rates since 1950
— Prospects up to 2040
• The different demographic transition models
• Nuptiality: enormous changes
— Age at marriage has increased, sometimes dramatically
— A much narrower age difference between spouses
— The extension of single life: an end to universal marriage?
— Polygyny in decline
— Family endogamy persists
— Divorce and remarriage
— Sub-national geographical and social disparities
• Fertility: major changes in intensity and timing
— Decline everywhere but at different paces
— Five examples of fertility transition since 1960
— Substantial and contrasting changes in the timing of births
— Marital fertility remains relatively high
— Declining demand for children: towards a new family model?
— Social and spatial diversification of reproductive patterns in the different countries
— Human development and infant mortality: loose correlates of fertility
• The proximate determinants of fertility: the key roles of marriage and contraception
— Post-partum sexual abstinence and breastfeeding: few significant changes
— Rapid and diversified progress of modern contraception
— The respective roles of contraception and nuptiality in the fertility declines
— Abortion
• Overall mortality: substantial progress
— Constant but uneven progress since 1950
— The epidemiological transitions underpinning mortality decline
— Sex inequalities: a return to normal?
— Maternal mortality
— The threat of AIDS
• Child mortality and health
— Substantial progress since 1960
— Marked changes in the age pattern of under-five mortality
— Excess female child mortality: an ever-present problem
— Spatial inequalities in healthcare
— Strong social and spatial inequalities within the countries
• Age-sex structures: rapid change and diversity
— Growing heterogeneity between sub-regions and countries
— The effects of a rapid fertility decline: the example of Iran
— Dependency ratios and demographic dividends
— Atypical pyramids: the effect of migration
• Urbanization: a swift and nearly universal trend
— Disparate levels and trends
— The emergence of mega-cities
— Slower urban growth
• International migration
— Intensive and sharply polarized migration flows
— Migration to the Gulf: a slowdown in the 1990s
— Israel: populated by migration
— Palestinians: the world’s largest refugee population
— Migration to Western countries: Europe the prime destination
• Access to education for men and women
— Extensive adult illiteracy, particularly among women
— A diverse pattern of school enrolment in the region
— Relationships with fertility and infant mortality: looser than elsewhere
• Conclusion
• REFERENCES