In the largest exodus Qatar has seen all year, the number of people in the country fell by 224,000 last month compared to June, newly released government figures show.
However, the population stayed above 2 million people in July, reflecting the overall growth the country has seen in 2015.
According to the Ministry of Development, Planning and Statistics, there were 2,120,129 people in Qatar at the end of last month, down from the 2,344,557 who were here in June.
Despite the sharp drop, the numbers show that there were still 200,000 more people in Qatar last month than in July 2014.
The latest figures are on par with this year’s average population increases, where figures show a rise of 9 to 10 percent each month, compared to the same period in 2014.
Though summer is always a popular time to leave Doha for holiday, things have not been as quiet over the last few years because many residents have been postponing their trips until Eid al Fitr.
Among the attractions for those opting to stay in Qatar during Ramadan are shorter working hours for many and shorter fasts compared to Europe or North America, where summer daylight hours were much longer.
Growth
Qatar’s population reached its peak in May this year, when some 2,374,860 people were recorded to be in the country.
The growth is expected to continue for at least the next few years, as the country rushes to finish several large construction projects before the 2022 World Cup.
The influx of people has not come without challenges.
In a report submitted by Qatar to the UN last year, the government acknowledged several key challenges going forward, including overcrowding in schools and hospitals, erosion of Arab and Islamic values and growing pollution caused by traffic congestion.
But for now, with schools out and Ramadan over, many residents have said they’re enjoying the relatively light traffic and slower pace of things before everyone returns in September.
Thoughts?
Obviously the wide spread layoffs in the energy sector was going to affect the total population in Qatar and although I do not have acess to the offical figures there seems to be a surge in the number of people leaving for good, not all all O&G workers.
It seems a rebalancing of the expat population is going on with a lot of high skilled, well paid expats departing and being replaced with low skilled, low educated people from Asian for the infrastructure work.
That does not seem to be the case. While it is true many
expats who are not from the oil and gas sector are leaving (see Al Jazeera
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/al-jazeera-cuts-dozens-of-jobs-601024.html),
others are joining in droves not only from Asia but also from European
countries. The only difference is that there seems to be a rebalancing in terms of skillset. Highly
skilled expats in the construction, transport and IT/telecom are still needed,
and I do not think Ashghal or Ooredoo will be massively firing staff anytime
soon. On the other side, administrative staff, art specialists (Qatar Museums)
and other not very needed expats are being sent home, which is absolutely fine in my opinion since many of them shouldn’t have been here in the first place.
Indeed, you are right, who gives a damn about art, museums and other stupidities alike? Bring us more malls!!! :)))
This story is only meaningful if it accurately reports the number of people who hold resident permits plus citizens. Population is NOT about people exiting the country to go on holiday. Another meaningless silly season story from DN.
Why is it that Qatar only consider labours when counting heads.
Because tourism is zero here 🙂
I guess the real question is what type of population does Qatar want. How many and what type of mix?