QNA
Doha
Qatar, along with various countries of the world, will celebrate World Population Day on Monday, in response to the recommendation of the United Nations Development Program Executive Board, which was approved in 1989, that the international community celebrates this occasion on July 11 of each year.
The annual event aims to raise awareness of population-related issues and to focus attention on the urgency and importance of these issues in the context of comprehensive development plans and programs, and the need to find solutions to these issues.
The State of Qatar's interest in population issues stems from its continuous approach to constructing an advanced society based on the principle of respect for human rights, which was translated by the improvement of the standard of living of the State of Qatar's residents; citizens and expatriates alike, and anchored in the country's adoption of the Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV2030) with the aim of "Investing in the people of Qatar, for them to build a prosperous society." The QNV2030 provided the general framework for the creation of successive national development strategies. It also formed the basis for population policy that aims to bring about a quantitative and qualitative change in population variables and other relevant issues, through a set of executive plans and programs.
In his speech on this occasion, HE President of the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) and Chairman of the Permanent Population Committee (PCC) Dr. Saleh bin Mohammed Al Nabit stressed that the population policy of the State of Qatar is a continuous project that is subject to review and reformulation given the rapid changes that the country is witnessing, and the ambitious development plans it adopts. His Excellency said that the main objective of the population policy in the State of Qatar is to achieve a balance between population growth and the requirements of sustainable development, in a way that guarantees a decent life for the population, enhances their capabilities, expands their options, and raises the levels of their participation in the progress and advancement of Qatari society.
Furthermore, Al Nabit explained that to achieve this end, a number of axes were adopted, with each axis having the main goal (or goals) that represent the purpose behind this specific policy, to be achieved according to the given timeframe (by 2030). Additionally, each axis has sub-goals whose achievement contributes to reaching the main goal of every axis. Moreover, Al Nabit indicated that the state's population policy draws the demographic features of tomorrow's Qatar, in light of an ambitious development agenda, in a politically ever-changing world. Furthermore, Qatar's population policy focuses on managing rapid population growth rates and addressing its repercussions, including demographic imbalance. Al Nabit added that perhaps the most prominent mechanism to deal with this repercussion is through the gradual shift towards a knowledge-based economy.
