Ammon News -

Children under 18 years of age constituted 40 percent of the total kingdom's population, according to the Department of Statistics' (DoS) 2019 estimates.

In a statement on Thursday on the occasion of the World Children's Day 2020, which falls on Friday, DoS said that boys constituted 39 percent of Jordan's population in 2019 while girls constituted 41.5 percent, adding that two out of five children between 3 and less than 5 years old are enrolled in kindergarten.

DoS indicated that 13 percent of preschoolers (3-5 years of age) who live with their mothers are enrolled in an organized early childhood education program, noting that the percentage is consistent with the Ministry of Education's data for the 2018-2019 academic year, where the enrollment rate for the kindergarten stage stands at 37.7 percent (38.2 percent males, and 37.1 percent females).

The Ministry of Education's data for the 2018-2019 academic year showed a clear progress in the enrollment rate in basic education, reaching 94.7 percent for males 94.4 and 95 percent for females, the report said.

DoS said that the enrollment in the secondary level for the academic year 2018-2019, reached 17.2 percent, with 65 percent for males, and 78.1 for females.

The department said that the rate of under-five mortality has decreased from 21 to 19 per 1,000 live births.