The Sultanate of Oman, is, a unique country filled with different statistics both in marriages and births. But, compared to its western counterparts like the United States, perhaps, the statistics regarding the population growth, and, rate of marriages in Oman differs greatly.
Oman, an Asian country, varies greatly in terms of birth and death statistics. Over the course of a 10 year period, Oman, saw its own birth and death rates actually improve significantly. Beginning in 1990, Oman, had an under 5 mortality rate of 39, but, over the course of the next 5 years it shrunk to just under 12. A significance in Asia, whereas, Oman had once suffered a birthrate problem within babies being born underweight. Comparable to the United States, Oman, was no match for the birth and death rate during this time.
During the same comparable period, in 1990, the United States had a solid 16.7% birth rate per every 1,000th of its population. Unlike Oman, over the next five years leading into 1995, the United States didn’t see much of a difference. Oman’s intergenerational gap in birth rates led to further problems, that the United States didn’t quite have, that would later become known to be babies being born underweight.
Based on these two issues at hand, I, could infer that political and personal beliefs likely played a role in both the minor and big drops in birth rates. And, with a drop in birth rate, any country would experience an abnormal death rate. Such would occur because without proper reproduction, a society, will later feel the repercussions of such when their society (like Oman, for example) begins to drastically age.
Now, in terms of marriage rates. They differed, perhaps greatly. According to statistical records for Oman, marriage rates in the country generally depended on religious beliefs and the like. In Oman, marriage rates in 2015 were of the lowest kind seen in decades.
Census reports in Oman reported that in 2015, only roughly, 25,000 marriages were reported in the country itself. This, was a stark decline in previous years (ex; 2013, 2014, whereas the country had roughly 28,000 registered marriages). However, in the United States, marriage rates were even lower as news reports and census records indicated a significant drop in marriage rates over the same period in time. Reports accounted the drops in American marriage rates, perhaps, to the fact that young people had suddenly started to wait to wed.
Cautiousness must be appropriate when elevating the changes in data to social change, because, the two may not exactly correlate with each other when data may be lifted from statistical tables. While a data set may reflect one thing, perhaps, social change may not reflect the immediate same scenario. Social change can be attributed to differentiating and evolving political beliefs; personal beliefs revolving around marriage and relationships (which would later result in an uptick or loss in birth rates) and numerous other aspects.
Based on the data tables lifted from both countries and their respective statistical measures, I, would have a single question. If like America, does, Oman and its society live their personal lives and the like generally based off of religious perspectives? And can societal changes such as changing beliefs result in an uptick in population and birth rates (and even, potentially, a decline?).
Comparing the two countries, several, differences were immediately present. First and foremost, population. Compared to the United States, Oman, would probably be considered more aligned with something like a hermit crab. The population of Oman, per census records, set Oman as the 139th largest country in the world. While the United States, generally, has sat within the top 10 (in terms of population) since its induction onto the world stage on 4 July 1776.
Perhaps, a big difference in the two societies is religion. Overtime, the United States has become much more liberal than it has ever been. While, Oman, a predominately Asian country follows strict Islam rules and cultural customs that have substandard and often unusual effects on its population; birth, and death rates. With religion being the biggest notable difference between the two, it, could be said that the countries vary greatly in the way their statistics may measure up against each other.
Among some of the other differences noticed within the two countries are customs; activities, beliefs within relationships and marriages, and societal acceptance of sexual relationships between man and woman. In Oman, for example, it is strictly forbidden for a woman to engage in sexual relations unless she is married to the man involved. This cultural approach
References
Statistics l at a glance, Oman, (2013, December 27). Retrieved June 16 2016
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/oman_statistics.html
U.S Birth Rate 1990-2014 l Statistic (n.d) Retrieved June 16th 2016, from
http://www.statista.com/statistics/195943/birth-rate-in-the-united-states-since-1990/
The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S Department of Health and Human Services (n.d) Retrieved June 16th 2016 from http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/trends.html
Marriage rate in 2015 lowest in five years (n.d), Retrieved June 17th 2016 from
http://omanobserver.om/marriage-rate-in-2015-lowest-in-five-years/
