Over 30,000 births in Abu Dhabi during 2011, fertility rate at 80.3 per 1000 population: SCAD 

(MENAFN - Emirates News Agency (WAM)) The number of live births in Abu Dhabi Emirate grew 4.7-fold from 6,854 in 1975 to 32,084 in 2011, official health figures showed.

Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi (SCAD) issued today its statistical report on births in Abu Dhabi Emirate in 2011. The bulletin also includes statistics of births for the years 2002, 2006 and 2010 for comparison and to examine trends in fertility. It contains the numbers of live births, sex ratios, fertility rates and relative distribution of births by month. It also presents birth indicators and general fertility rates, detailed by, among other attributes, nationality, gender and region and supported by figures to highlight various births trends and provide inputs for more specialized studies to support planning for future integrated strategies in this regard. SCAD acknowledged with appreciation the full cooperation of the Health Authority - Abu Dhabi (HAAD) for supplying the Centre with the latest births data.

Major Births trends Live births There were 32,084 live births in 2011, marking an increase of 32.0 percent compared with 2002. A breakdown of the figure by nationality reveals that the increase over the aforesaid period was 36.2 percent for citizens 28.4 percent for non-citizens.

In 2011, births of citizens made up 45.6 percent of the total births in the Emirate. Administrative records also show that births of citizens vary by regions, with the highest proportion (53.1 percent) in Abu Dhabi region, followed by Al Ain region (43.5 percent) and Al Gharbia (3.4 percent).

Births of non-citizen represented 54.2 percent of the total births in the Emirate in 2011. Abu Dhabi region accounted for 67.1 percent of the total births of non-citizens, while Al Ain and Al Gharbia regions accounted for 29.5 percent and 3.4 percent of non-citizens births, respectively.

Births by month Exploring the relative distribution of births over the months of 2011, the report reveals a great deal of monthly variation. Compared with the following three quarters, the first quarter of the year saw the lowest three-monthly average (7.8 percent) of total births for the year under review. This average percentage increased to 8.3 percent in the following two quarters percent. In the fourth quarter it increased further to 8.9 percent, the highest three-monthly average for 2011. The proportion of births was the highest in October (9.1 percent), while the lowest monthly proportion was recorded in February at 7.4 percent, (i.e. with a range of 1.7 percentage points).There were no significant differences in the relative monthly distribution of births between citizens and non-citizens in 2011, except for the months of June and November, for which the differences were 0.5 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

Sex Ratio at Birth Statistics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi show that the sex ratio at birth fluctuated between 2002 and 2011 for both citizens and non-citizens. In 2002, the sex ratio at birth was 101.8 males per 100 females for the Emirate as a whole, 101.3 for citizens and 102.3 for non-citizens. In 2011, the sex ratio at birth edged up to 103.5 males per 100 females, 103.1 for citizens and 103.9 for non-citizens.

Crude Birth Rate Figures point to a noticeable decline of the Crude Birth Rate (CBR) over the years 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2011, in the course of which the CBR gradually retreated across the Emirate, from approximately 20.2 births per 1000 population in 2002 to 17.6 per 1000 population in 2006, then to 15.0 births per 1000 population in 2010, before rising slightly to 15.1 births per 1000 population in 2011.

The CBR for citizens decreased from 35.4 births per 1000 population in 2002 to 33.8 births per 1000 population in 2006, 31.4 per 1000 population in 2010, and then rose to 33.3 births per 1000 population in 2011. As for non-citizens, there was a steady decline, with the CBR falling from 15.1 births per 1000 population in 2002 to 10.3 births per 1000 population in 2011.

Detailed by region and nationality, the CBR reached its highest level (35.0 births per 1000 population) for citizens of in Al Ain region, while the lowest rate for citizens (19.9 for citizens per 1000 population) was recorded in Al Gharbia. The same pattern applies to non-citizens, for whom the highest CBR was reported in the Al Ain Region with 12.6 births per 1000 population, and the lowest level in Al Gharbia region at 3.0 births per 1000 population.

General Fertility Rate (GFR) Comparing general fertility rate (GFR) in 2011 by nationality, it can be seen that the GFR for citizen females was consistently higher than that of non-citizen females, in terms of the overall figure for Abu Dhabi Emirate as well as in each of the Emirate's regions. The indicator shows that 127.4 babies were born per 1000 citizen females of childbearing age (15-49 years). The corresponding figure for non-citizen females was 61.1 babies.

Despite the lower GFR for non-citizens females, the number of non-citizen births is higher than citizen births, due to the much larger number of non-citizen females within the reproductive age group (15-49) compared with the citizen females within the same age group, A comparison by region reveals that Al Ain region had the highest GFR at 133.2 births per 1000 citizen females aged 15-49 years, and 62.7 births per 1000 non-citizen females within the same age group. The GFR is lowest in Al Gharbia region at 91.3 births per 1000 citizen females and 60.2 per 1000 non-citizen females in childbearing age.

Total Fertility Rate The total fertility rate (TFR) represents the average number of children that a woman could expect to give birth to during her reproductive lifetime, assuming current age-specific fertility rates for each woman through her lifetime and that every woman will survive throughout her reproductive life, and also assuming that registered births represent births to resident mothers. In 2011, the TFR for Abu Dhabi Emirate was 1.9 children per woman. The indicator varied from one region to another, ranging from 1.4 in Al Gharbia to 2.0 in Abu Dhabi region. In Al Ain region the TFR was 1.8 children per woman.

Detailed by nationality, the TFR was 3.8 children for citizens and 1.4 children for non-citizens in Abu Dhabi Emirate, which means that the TFR for citizens was 2.5 times that of non-citizens. The TFR for citizens in Al Ain region was the highest across the emirate at 5.6 children per citizen woman, followed by Abu Dhabi and Al Gharbia at 3.0 children per citizen woman each.

Age Specific Fertility Rate Age is an essential factor for fertility, which varies from one age group to another. Generally, the Age Specific Fertility Rate (ASFR) has a low level in the lower age group (15-19 years). It then rises dramatically, reaching its peak level either in the age group 25-29 years or 30-34 years, before decreasing to the lowest rate in the age group 45-49 years.

In 2011, the ASFR for the age group 15 to 19 years was 22.3 for the Emirate, which means there 22 babies on average born per 1000 women in this teenage group. The TFR reached its peak in the age group 25 to 29 years with about 94 births per 1000 women. Only three babies were born per 1000 women age group 45 to 49 years.

Al Ain Region had the highest TFR for citizens, which is also reflected in the ASFR, with 305 births per 1000 female citizens in both the 25 to 29 years and the 30 to 34 years age groups. There were similar ASFRs for citizens in Abu Dhabi Region and Al Gharbia, except that Al Abu Dhabi Region had a higher ASFR in the 25-29 age group and a higher ASFR in the 35-39 years age group in Al Gharbia region.

Median Age of Mother According to SCAD's report, the median age of mothers in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi was 29.2 years. Regional differences for median age of mother were insignificant for both citizens and non-citizens. Non-citizen median age of mother (29.7 years) was one year older than for citizen mothers (28.7 years). The interquartile range (between the first individual in the second quartile and the last individual in the third quartile) shows that 50 percent of all mothers were between 25 and 33 years old.