ABU DHABI Ñ The Gulf Cooperation Council states, threatened by runaway population growth, has demonstrated a decline in the birth rate, a report said.

The report by the Abu Dhabi-based Gulf News Research Center said the growth rate in GCC countries has begun to decline over the last decade. The report said this is based on the decline in the birth rate from 1990 to 2000.

In Bahrain, the fertility rate dropped to 2.5 births in 2000 from 3.7 births per woman in 1990. In Kuwait, the decline reached 2.8 births in 2000 from 3.6 a decade earlier. In Qatar, the rate dropped to 3.5 births per woman from 4.4 births.

The report, authored by Azza Munif, said that in Oman the fertility rate declined from 7 births a woman in 1990 to 5.7 births a decade later. In Saudi Arabia, the birth rate dropped from 6.9 to 5.8 births. In the United Arab Emirates, women in 2000 had an average fertility rate of three births, down from 4.2 births.

The GCC fertility rate was far higher than that of the West. In the United States, the birth rate was two per woman. In Germany, the rate was 1.3 births per woman.

The report said that the declining birth rate will not stop a huge growth of the population. The report said the GCC's 30 million people are expected to more than double by 2050.

"The population growth rate in the region's six states has been among the highest in the world during the last few decades," the report said. "Low mortality rates along with high fertility rates and the growing number of expatriates have contributed to such an increase."

The growth rate in 2001 was said to have been highest in Oman, with 3.5 percent. This was followed by 2.9 percent in Saudi Arabia, 2.7 percent in Qatar; 1.9 percent in Bahrain, 1.8 percent in Kuwait and 1.4 percent in the United Arab Emirates.

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