Qatar’s population is not fixed but always changing. The pace is so fast that the census has to be done… every month.
Located on the Arabian peninsula, the country of Qatar with an area of more than 11,000 square kilometers owns the world’s largest source of oil and gas, which is a destination for many people. Tourists have, people do business, people work, it’s not even worth mentioning because… too many.
In terms of GDP per capita, Qatar is the highest-income country in the world at the moment, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Some people say it funny, it is easy to be a Qatari, but it is difficult to be a Qatari (known in English as Qataris).
Immigrants in Qatar are also included in the country’s population and are mainly workers in the construction sector – (Photo: Reuters).
Anyone living in Qatar will be counted in the country’s population. In fact, this calculation is not too unusual, it is even true in the literal sense of population as “the number of people living in a certain geographical or spatial area”.
However, the strange thing here is that exactly once a month, Qatar “counts” the population once due to the rapid rate of change!
Even more strange is that the percentage of non-Qatarians always dominates in the statistics, accounting for more than 80% of the country’s population. This fact has existed since Qatar gained independence from Britain in 1971 until now.
As of the end of May 2017, Qatar’s total population was 2,700,539 people, compared with a month earlier, the population of Qatar has increased by more than 25,000, according to the Qatar Ministry of Planning and Statistics Development.
Since the beginning of this year, Qatar’s population has increased by 124,358 people.
This is due to the fact that Qatar’s population is mainly immigrants or citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Most of them are laborers from Asian countries such as India, Nepal, and the Philippines.
The proportion of Qatari citizens, although not constant, is always stable, about 313,000 people as of early 2017, accounting for about 11.5% of the population. This is the lowest rate since 2004, even half the number of Indian immigrants (650,000 people).
There is an interesting thing, whether by accident or unwritten rule that the ratio of men and women in Qatar is always maintained at 3 male – 1 female.
Speaking of which, if a person sets foot in Qatar and has the opportunity to live for more than a month, they have become a Qatari without knowing it.
Is it good to be a citizen of the highest-income country in the world? It’s great, but it’s kind of famous but has no money because that mountain of money is in the pockets of the Qatari owners.
Former Qatari emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (centre). In 2013, he ceded the throne to his son, who is also the current King of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani – (Photo: Reuters).
So who are Qataris after all? History aside, they are now rich oil landowners and naturalized newcomers.
New born children in Qatar, if their parents are not known, will not be counted as citizens of this country. Meanwhile, if the father is Qatari, that child, no matter where he is born in the world, will automatically become a citizen of this country. This provision does not apply to individuals whose mother is a Qatari.
So, is it okay for an ordinary foreigner who has nothing to do with Qatar who wants to be a Qatari? The answer is yes, but you need to reside in this country for at least 25 consecutive years, the interval cannot exceed 6 months, then you need to know Arabic and have a legal profession to support yourself. If you are an Arab citizen, it only takes 15 years to acquire Qatari citizenship.
It’s hard work, but once they become Qatari citizens, these people will be very well taken care of by the government. Jobs in the public sector pay very well; Social benefits from health to education, pension or unemployment benefits are fully guaranteed. Some say, the Qatari government is very cool and willing to use money to “buy” the loyalty of its citizens.
The development of Qatar is partly contributed by immigrants – (Photo: Reuters).
The Qatari government must acknowledge that the rapidly growing population is posing many challenges to the country from infrastructure (low-income social housing) to cultural differences, especially economic ones.
There is no denying the contribution of foreigners living and working in Qatar. However, “if for any reason a large number of foreigners leave Qatar, not only will labor productivity decline, projects are delayed, but worse will create a second decline. subsidies to the economy when their expenditures are lost,” the Qatar government’s human development report 2015 reads. This concern partly explains the fact that Qatar did not expel people in the GCC despite being cut off diplomatic relations by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on June 5.
By the end of 2016, there were about 2,000 Vietnamese people living and working in Qatar.