Over 1.2 million Omani children by end of 2021

Muscat: The population of Omani children in the age group (0-17 years), increased by 16 percent between 2017 and 2021.This resulted in the group’s population to go up-to 1,221,751 children, constituting 44 percent of the total Omani population of 2,804,117 until the end of 2021.

The highest percentage of Omani children was registered in the Governorate of North Al Batinah at 44 percent of the total Omani children, according to the Special Categories Bulletin for the year 2022 issued by the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The bulletin stated that the number of Omani youth in the age group from 18 to 29 years, was 544,983, representing 19.4 percent of the total Omani population, and 51 percent of the youth are male and 60 percent of them are employed in the private, household and civil sectors.

The bulletin showed that the number of Omani elderly in the age group (60 years and above) increased from 149,824 in 2017 to 154,405 in 2021, constituting 5.5 percent of the total Omani population.

While the total number of Omani women by the end of 2021 was 1,391,609 problems, representing 49.6 percent of the Omani population. As for the age-related fertility rates for Omani females, it decreased from 4 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age (15-49 years) in in 2017 to 3.4 births per 1,000 women in 2021.

The bulletin showed that 60 percent of the holders of a bachelor’s degree or higher are females, and the illiteracy rate for Omani females decreased to 6.3 percent in 2021, compared to 2017 which was 6.8 percent.

The number of Omani persons with disabilities reached 42,613 persons in 2021, constituting 1.5 percent of the Omanis, of whom 61 percent were males compared to 39 percent for females. The highest percentage of persons with disabilities was concentrated in the Governorate of North Al Batinah (22 percent), followed by Muscat with (16 percent), Al-Dakhiliyah (13.9 percent), while the lowest percentage was in Al-Wusta (0.6 percent).

The statistics show that 57 percent of persons with disabilities are the result of congenital causes, and 17.6 percent were from birth.

The bulletin indicated that the number of cases benefiting from social security amounted to 72,675 cases by the end of 2021, constituting 2.6 percent of the total Omani population, decreasing by 8.6 percent between the years (2017-2021), as North Al Batinah included the highest cases of social security beneficiaries, which 26 percent of the total beneficiary cases, and that 42 percent of the beneficiary cases from social security are from the old age category, followed by the disability category at 29 percent.