The descending order of the fertility rates declining profile in the Arab countries were (24.3%), (22.2%), (19.1%), (18.6%), (18.1%), (15.1%), (14.8%), (14.2%), (14.2%), (13.6%), (12%), (11.7%), (11.5%), (10.3%), (10%), (10%), (9.3%), (4.5%), (4.5%), (4.5%), (3.8%) and (0%) for Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, West bank and Gaza, Syria, Djibouti, Comoros, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Somalia, Mauritania, UAE, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya and Algeria respectively.
For comparison of Block-1; The Arabian Peninsula Countries block showed almost similar fertility rate decline, ranging between 14.2–10.3% for all of the countries with the exception of Yemen and Kuwait. Despite Yemen’s historical reputation for high fertility, it exhibited highest decline rate reaching 19.1% across Arabian Peninsula block. Meanwhile, it still maintains highest fertility rate comparing to countries in the same block [16]. It is assumed that the significant fertility rate decline seems to be mainly contributed to the increase of educational level of women and increased use of contraception along with other factors [16–18]. On another note, UAE exhibited the lowest fertility rate (1.7) and (1.5) during 2011 and 2021 respectively in comparision with the countries in the Arab World during the same period. As per a recent study, the current fertility rate in the UAE contrasts with the desired number of children, being significantly higher, which seem to be contributed to gender roles [19]. Also, more recently, Ebrahim and Mahasneh have reported the prevalence and characterization of infertility among Emirati males in a 10 year period of 2011 to 2021 [12], followed by diagnostic screening for microdeletion of the AZF gene cluster among the Emirati males [13]. Our results show that with the exception of Yemen, most countries of Arabian Peninsula block-1 exhibit low fertility rates comparing to other countries across the Arab world.
For comparison of Block-2; The Fertile Crescent Arab Countries block showed most significant fertility rate decline for all countries with the exception of Lebanon. Jordan has the highest fertility rate decline in the Arab world, with a decline rate reaching 24.3%; apparently due to the fact that it was the first country in Middle East and North Africa region to exhibit fertility stall from the late of 1990’s followed by a resume in declining fertility from 2012 [20, 21]. During the fertility stall period, Spindler et al. [21] presented the average desired number of children to be around four. At the same period, Rutstein and Shah [22] presented rate of 3.5% and 13.5% for primary infertility and secondary infertility respectivaly among Jordanians. While the proximate-determinants decomposition reported by Krafft et al. [20] did not clearly identify the factor for the fertility decline that was observed across age groups and education levels, rising age of marriage and decline in contraceptive use were noticed. This contrasts with Yemen of which high prevelence of contraceptive use has been observed in the recent years [18]. After Jordan, Iraq is the second Arab country across the Arab world with significant fertility decline rate.
For comparison of Block-3; The African Arab Countries block also showed fertility decline for all of the countries with the exception of Algeria, having zero fertility decline rate. Courbage [23] presented marginalization of women in job market along with improved living conditions and increase of marriages as important factors associated with fertility in Algeria. In fact, Algeria shares geographical borders with Libya and Tunisia, which also have shown to have reduced fertility decline rate. On another note, Somalia exhibits the highest fertility rate across the Arab world being maintained between 7.3% and 6.3% for 2011 and 2021 respectively. Somalia continues to maintain elevated fertility, despite the noticeable fertility decline. Mohamud [24] recommended implementing female employment in education and workforce, which can contribute to a reduction in fertility rates thus maintaining balanced fertility rate while improving living standards and enhancing healthcare in Somalia.