‘20,000 non-Jordanians born in Kingdom this year’

AMMAN — The Kingdom has witnessed the birth of around 20,000 non-Jordanians since the start of this year: 10,304 boys and 9,655 girls, according to the Civil Status and Passports Department (CSPD). “Most of the non-Jordanian newborns are Syrians,” CSPD Director General Marwan Qteishat told The Jordan Times over the phone on Thursday.

He added that nearly 175,000 Jordanians were born in 2014 so far, with Amman witnessing the vast majority of births.

Article 3 of the Civil Status Law gives the CSPD’s offices across Jordan the authority to register marriages, births and deaths among citizens and non-Jordanians, according to Qteishat. 

Meanwhile, a new UNICEF study showed that child mortality at the Health Ministry’s hospitals went down by 40 per cent during the past 10 years, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Health Ministry Secretary General Daifallah Lozi noted that the government’s programmes have significantly improved health indicators, including reducing the child mortality rate to 17 per 1,000 live births. 

The “Population and Family Health Survey” for the year 2012 revealed that infant and under-five mortality rates in the past five years stood at 17 and 21 deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively.

“Under-five mortality declined by 46 per cent — from 39 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 21 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012,” said the report, released by the Department of Statistics in December last year.