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Demographics of United Arab Emirates
Population pyramid of the United Arab Emirates in 2020
Population9,915,803 (2022 est.)
Growth rate0.58% (2022 est.)
Birth rate10.81 births/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Death rate1.56 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Life expectancy79.56 years
 • male78.21 years
 • female80.99 years
Fertility rate1.64 children born/woman (2022 est.)
Infant mortality rate5.14 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate3.45 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years14.45%
15–64 years83.65%
65 and over1.90%
Sex ratio
Total2.21 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth1.06 male(s)/female
Under 151.06 male(s)/female
65 and over1.86 male(s)/female
Nationality
NationalityEmirati
Language
OfficialArabic
SpokenArabic, English, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Pashto, Tagalog, Persian

Demographic features of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) include population density, vital statistics, immigration and emigration data, ethnicity, education levels, religions practiced, and languages spoken within the UAE.

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1963 95,000—    
1968 180,226+13.66%
1975 557,887+17.52%
1980 1,042,099+13.31%
1985 1,379,303+5.77%
1995 2,411,041+5.74%
1999 2,938,000+5.07%
2005 4,106,427+5.74%
2010 8,264,070+15.01%
2011 8,925,096+8.00%
2012 9,205,651+3.14%
2013 9,346,129[3]+1.53%
2016 9,269,610[3]−0.27%
2018 9,599,353[4]+1.76%
Sources:[1][2]

The United Arab Emirates experienced a significant population increase in recent years as a result of major economic growth in certain economic sectors. This led to an influx of workers from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, increasing the population from 4.1 million in 2005 to roughly 9.5 million in 2018.[5] As of 2018, the number of UAE citizens is around 11.5% and the remaining 88.5% made up of expatriate workers, the largest proportion of expats in the world in relation to the nationals (with the exception of the Vatican). The largest group of non-UAE nationals are South Asian 59.4% (includes Indians 38.2%, Bangladeshi 9.5%, Pakistani 9.4%, others 2.3%), Egyptian 10.2%, Filipino 6.1%, other 12.8%.[6]

Female citizens and non-citizens account for 28% percent of the UAE's population due to the high level of male foreign workers.[7] The majority of the UAE population falls in the age group of 25 to 54 year old. A large part of this can be attributed to the expatriate worker population who fall in the age category.[8] Population is heavily concentrated to the northeast on the Musandam Peninsula, the three largest Emirates - Dubai (2.7 million), Abu Dhabi (1.9 million) and Sharjah (1.4 million), are home to nearly 75% of the population.[9][10][11]

The population of the UAE in 2018 was 9,630,959, a 1.52% increase from 2017. In 2019, the population was 9,770,529, a 1.45% increase from 2018.[12] The current population of the UAE stands at 9,991,089 million, a 1.02% increase from 2020.[13]

Population development

According to sources, the 2021 UAE population including expats is 9.99 million, of which 69% of the population is male and 31% of the population is female.[14][15][16] The total expat population in UAE has now come to 8.84 million, which constitutes approximately 89% of the population. Emiratis or the UAE nationals are only 11% or 1.15 million today. While taking a closer look at the 2021 UAE population by nationality, there are people from more than 200 nationalities living and working in the country. Currently, the Indian population in UAE is the highest with 2.75 million, followed by Pakistanis with 1.27 million. The UAE has around 0.75 million Bangladeshi nationals, 0.56 million Filipinos, and 0.48 million Iranians. There are also people from Egypt (0.42 million), Nepal (0.32 million), Sri Lanka (0.32 million), China (0.21 million) and the rest of the world (1.79 million).[17][18]

Emirate Census 1975 Census 1985 Census 1995 Census 2005 Est. 2010
Abu Dhabi 211,812 566,036 942,463 1,399,484
Dubai 183,187 370,788 689,420 1,321,453
Sharjah 78,790 228,317 402,792 793,573
Ajman 16,690 54,546 121,491 206,997
Umm Al-Quwain 6,908 19,285 35,361 49,159
Ras Al-Khaimah 43,845 96,578 143,334 210,063
Fujairah 16,655 43,753 76,180 125,698
Total 557,887 1,379,303 2,411,041 4,106,427 7,512,000 (UN)[19]
8,190,000 (NBS)[20]

Population pyramid data

UAE Census (05/12/2005)
Age group Male Female Total %
Total 2 806 141 1 300 286 4 106 427 100
0-4 145 601 136 538 282 139 6.87
5-9 139 929 129 453 269 382 6.56
10-14 130 778 118 279 249 057 6.07
15-19 121 388 110 838 232 226 5.66
20-24 272 036 161 530 433 566 10.56
25-29 483 657 178 137 661 794 16.12
30-34 489 879 150 482 640 361 15.59
35-39 386 762 113 844 500 606 12.19
40-44 262 718 78 543 341 261 8.31
45-49 174 459 51 311 225 770 5.50
50-54 107 339 31 539 138 878 3.38
55-59 51 303 15 804 67 107 1.63
60-64 18 820 8 527 27 347 0.67
65-69 9 172 5 285 14 457 0.35
70-74 5 391 4 013 9 404 0.23
75-79 2 440 1 837 4 277 0.10
80-84 1 537 1 439 2 976 0.07
85+ 1 250 1 165 2 415 0.06
unknown 1 682 1 722 3 404 0.08
Age group Male Female Total Percent
0-14 416 308 384 270 800 578 19.50
15-64 2 366 679 898 833 3 265 512 79.52
65+ 21 472 15 461 36 933 0.90
[21]

Education and employment

The United Arab Emirates government have always focused on increasing the quality of education, allowing female access to higher education and attaching importance to their achievements. Currently, there are more women (58%) in higher education than men. However, the unemployment rate for women is more than five times higher than it is for men. The most popular program is business which has the highest number of graduates, and the most second popular program is humanities and social science.[7] The UAE relies on migrant workers, and currently they make up a majority of the population and will continue to increase and will consist of 88.2 percent of the population in 2030.[22]

Vital statistics

UN prospects

Period Live births per year Deaths per year Natural change per year CBR CDR NC TFR IMR
1950–1955 4,000 2,000 2,000 49.4 20.8 28.6 6.97 175
1955–1960 4,000 2,000 3,000 49.3 18.0 31.3 6.97 156
1960–1965 5,000 2,000 4,000 46.3 13.2 33.2 6.87 120
1965–1970 8,000 2,000 6,000 41.2 8.7 32.5 6.77 77
1970–1975 12,000 2,000 10,000 32.6 6.4 26.2 6.36 51
1975–1980 23,000 4,000 19,000 29.1 4.6 24.5 5.66 36
1980–1985 36,000 4,000 32,000 30.5 3.7 26.8 5.23 25
1985–1990 45,000 5,000 40,000 28.4 3.1 25.4 4.83 17
1990–1995 48,000 5,000 42,000 23.0 2.5 20.4 3.88 12
1995–2000 49,000 6,000 43,000 18.1 2.1 16.0 2.97 10
2000–2005 57,000 6,000 51,000 16.2 1.7 14.4 2.38 8
2005–2010 81,000 8,000 73,000 14.0 1.4 12.6 1.86 7
CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Source: United National World Population Prospects[19]

Births and deaths

Year Population Live births Deaths Natural increase Crude birth rate Crude death rate Rate of natural increase TFR
1976 646,900 21,394 33.1
1977 748,100 23,119 30.9
1978 852,200 27,645 32.4
1979 952,000 31,685 33.3
1980 1,042,000 34,774 33.4
1981 1,121,000 38,547 34.4
1982 1,190,000 41,961 35.3
1983 1,253,000 43,419 34.7
1984 1,318,000 43,704 33.2
1985 1,391,000 44,192 31.8
1986 1,472,000 45,460 3,222 42,238 30.9 2.2 28.7
1987 1,561,000 47,703 3,231 44,472 30.6 2.1 28.5
1988 1,656,000 50,836 3,447 47,389 30.7 2.1 28.6
1989 1,756,000 51,903 3,640 48,263 29.6 2.1 27.5
1990 1,860,000 52,264 3,938 48,326 28.1 2.1 26.0
1991 1,970,000 49,496 4,026 45,470 25.4 2.0 23.4
1992 2,087,000 50,604 4,271 46,333 24.2 2.0 22.2
1993 2,207,000 50,197 4,342 45,855 22.7 2.0 20.7
1994 2,329,000 52,440 4,584 47,856 22.5 2.0 20.5
1995 2,449,000 48,567 4,779 43,788 19.8 2.0 17.8
1996 2,571,000 47,050 4,785 42,265 18.3 1.9 16.4
1997 2,700,000 46,360 4,878 41,482 17.2 1.8 15.4
1998 2,838,000 48,136 5,033 43,103 17.0 1.8 15.2
1999 2,988,000 49,659 5,194 44,465 16.6 1.7 14.9
2000 3,155,000 53,686 5,396 48,290 17.0 1.7 15.3
2001 3,326,000 56,136 5,777 50,359 16.9 1.7 15.2
2002 3,507,000 58,070 5,994 52,075 16.6 1.7 14.9
2003 3,742,000 61,165 6,002 55,163 16.3 1.6 14.7
2004 4,088,000 63,113 6,123 56,990 15.4 1.5 13.9
2005 4,580,000 64,623 6,361 58,262 14.1 1.4 12.7
2006 5,242,000 62,960 6,483 56,477 12.0 1.2 10.8
2007 6,044,000 67,677 7,414 60,263 11.2 1.2 10.0
2008 6,894,000 68,779 7,755 61,024 9.9 1.1 8.8
2009 7,666,000 76,366 7,789 68,577 10.0 1.0 9.0
2010 8,271,000 79,625 7,414 72,211 9.6 0.9 8.7
2011 8,672,000 83,950 7,350 76,600 9.7 0.8 8.9
2012 8,900,000 89,578 7,702 81,876 10.1 0.9 9.2
2013 9,006,000 93,539 8,015 88,524 10.4 0.9 9.5
2014 9,071,000 95,860 8,265 87,595 10.6 0.9 9.7
2015 9,154,000 97,328 8,755 88,573 10.6 1.0 9.6
2016 9,121,200 98,299 8,988 89,311 10.8 1.0 9.8
2017 9,304,277 97,738 8,826 88,912 10.5 0.9 9.6
2018 9,366,828 95,309 8,794 86,515 10.2 0.9 9.3
2019 9,503,738 94,697 9,006 85,691 10.0 1.0 9.0
2020 9,282,410 97,572 10,357 87,215 10.5 1.1 9.4
2021 92,777 11,911 80,866 9.7 1.2 8.5

[23][24]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy at birth in the United Arab Emirates
Period Life expectancy in
Years 		Period Life expectancy in
Years
1950–1955 43.9 1985–1990 70.7
1955–1960 49.6 1990–1995 72.2
1960–1965 54.7 1995–2000 73.6
1965–1970 59.6 2000–2005 74.8
1970–1975 63.4 2005–2010 75.9
1975–1980 66.4 2010–2015 76.7
1980–1985 68.8 2019 78[25]

Source: UN World Population Prospects[26]

Ethnicity of UAE immigrants

The UAE National Bureau of Statistics does not publish demographic data in relation to any nationality. The figures listed in the table below are estimates provided by each country's embassy.[27]

Source: United Arab Emirates Population Statistics[28]

Estimate of the ethnicity of the population in UAE

  Indians (27.49%)
  Pakistani (12.69%)
  Emiratis (11.48%)
  Bangladeshi (7.40%)
  Filipinos (5.56%)
  Iranians (4.76%)
  Egyptians (4.23%)
  Nepalese/Sri Lankan (3.17%)
  Chinese (2.11%)
  Others (38.55%)
Nationals of Population % of total population Year of data
 India 2,770,000 27.49% 2022
 Pakistan 1,280,000 12.69% 2022
 UAE 1,160,000 11.48% 2022
 Bangladesh 750,000 7.40% 2022
 Philippines 560,000 5.56% 2022
 Iran* 480,000 4.76% 2022
 Egypt* 430,000 4.23% 2022
   Nepal 320,000 3.17% 2022
 Sri Lanka 320,000 3.17% 2022
 Syria 224,118 2.21% 2022
 United Kingdom 250,000 2.61% 2015
 China 210,000 2.11% 2022
 Jordan 200,000 2.09% 2015
 Afghanistan 150,000 1.57% <2011
 Palestine 150,000 1.57% 2009
 European Union 107,000 1.09% 2015
 South Africa 100,000 1.04% 2014
 Lebanon* 100,000 1.04% 2015
 Ethiopia 90,000 0.94% 2014
 Yemen 90,000 0.94% 2013
 Indonesia 85,000 0.89% 2015
 Sudan 75,000 0.78% 2013
 Saudi Arabia 70,000 0.73% 2014
 Somalia 70,000 0.73% 2015
 Iraq 52,000 0.54% 2014
 United States 50,000 0.52% 2015
 Russia 40,000 0.42% 2021
 Canada 40,000 0.42% 2014
 Kenya 40,000 0.42% 2014
 Uganda 30,000 0.32% 2018
 France 25,000 0.26% 2015
 Australia 16,000 0.17% 2015
 Germany 12,000 0.12% 2013
 Spain 12,000 0.11% 2015
 Romania 10,000 0.10% 2022
 Algeria 10,000 0.10% 2014
 Italy 10,000 0.10% 2014
 South Korea 10,000 0.10% 2014
 Thailand 10,000 0.10% 2014
 Turkey 10,000 0.10% 2014
 Azerbaijan 7,000 0.07% 2015
 Ireland 7,000 0.07% 2015
 Malaysia 6,000 – 7,000 0.06% – 0.07% 2015
 Colombia 5,466 0.06% 2018[29]
 Kazakhstan 5,000 – 6,000 0.05% – 0.06% 2015
 Greece 5,000 0.05% 2015
 Mauritania 5,000 0.05% 2015
 Netherlands 5,000 0.05% 2015
 Serbia 5,000 0.05% 2015
 Ukraine 5,000 0.05% 2014
 Sweden 4,000 0.04% 2015
 Denmark 3,000 – 4,000 ≈0.03% 2015
 Mexico 3,000 – 3,500 ≈0.03% 2014
 Belgium 3,000 0.03% 2015
 Eritrea 3,000 0.03% 2015
 Japan 2,603 ≈0.03% 2015
 Dominican Republic 2,000-3,000 0.02% – 0.03% 2015
 Austria 2,500 ≈0.03% 2015
 Belarus 2,500 ≈0.03% 2015
 Hungary 2,500 ≈0.03% 2015
  Switzerland 2,430 ≈0.03% 2013
 Poland 2,348 ≈0.02% 2015
 Singapore >2,000 ≈0.02% 2015
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1,000 – 2,000 0.01% – 0.02% 2015
 Czech Republic 1,500 ≈0.02% 2015
 Venezuela 1,200 ≈0.01% 2015
 Norway 1,184 ≈0.01% 2015
 Finland 1,180 ≈0.01% 2014
 Cyprus 1,000 ≈0.01% 2014
 Slovakia 1,000 ≈0.01% 2014
 Senegal 700 – 800 < 0.01% 2015
 Ghana 500 < 0.01% 2015
 New Zealand 444 < 0.01% 2015
 Taiwan 400 < 0.01% 2015
 Latvia 300 < 0.01% 2014
 Peru 300 < 0.01% 2015
 Chile 270 < 0.01% 2014
 Albania 200 – 300 < 0.01% 2015
 Chad 200 < 0.01% 2015
 Slovenia 100 – 150 < 0.01% 2015
 Angola 100 < 0.01% 2015
 Zimbabwe 1 < 0.001% 2018
 Nigeria 1 > 0.001% 2020

*The figures for the countries cannot be directly sourced to embassy statements.

Ethnic groups

Main article: Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates

Languages

A multilingual (Arabic, English, Urdu) signboard in the UAE
Most spoken languages in the UAE (>100k users)[30]
Language Number of speakers (all users)
Gulf Arabic 3,480,000
Modern Standard Arabic 3,090,000
Malayalam 1,060,000
South Levantine Arabic 499,000
Tamil 455,000
Northern Pashto 379,000
Southern Balochi 379,000
Hejazi Arabic 370,000
Bengali 337,000
Tagalog 303,000
Omani Arabic 303,000
Iranian Persian 303,000
Egyptian Arabic 284,000
French language 250,000
Eastern Punjabi 201,000
Southern Pashto 144,000
North Levantine Arabic 127,000
Sinhala 121,000
Sindhi 102,000

Although Arabic is the official language, the most used language is English. English is also the main medium of instruction at all levels of schooling.[31]

Emirati people speak Gulf Arabic.[32] The Achomi language (Persian dialect) is also spoken by a 303,000 people in the UAE.[33][34]

Other languages spoken in the UAE, due to immigration, include other Arabic dialects (such as Levantine Arabic), Malayalam (1,060,000 speakers in the UAE[34]), Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, Persian, Cebuano, Pashto (144,000 speakers in the UAE[34]), Kannada, Bengali (337,000 speakers in the UAE[34]), Punjabi (201,000 speakers in the UAE[34]), Odia, Telugu, Baluchi and Southern Baluchi (379,000 speakers in the UAE[34]), Sinhala (121,000 speakers in the UAE[34]), Russian, Ukrainian, Somali, Tagalog (303,000 speakers in the UAE[34]), Nepali, Mandarin, Tamil (455,000 speakers in the UAE[34]), Spanish, Italian and Greek.

In 2019, Abu Dhabi included Hindi as third official court language.[35][36] Currently, the UAE government provides lectures and tests to obtain a driving license in Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali, besides Arabic and English.[37]

Practiced religions

Main article: Religion in the United Arab Emirates

Religions are represented in the UAE as follows:

See also

References

  1. ^ "UAE National Bureau of Statistics" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2013.
  2. ^ "United Arab Emirates". World Gazetteer.[dead link]
  3. ^ a b "Population (Total)". World Bank.
  4. ^ "United Arab Emirates Population (2018)". www.worldometers.info.
  5. ^ "UNDP in United Arab Emirates". UNDP. Archived from the original on 2018-11-24. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  6. ^ "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  7. ^ a b Kemp, Linzi J. (2013). "Progress in female education and employment in the United Arab Emirates towards Millennium Development Goal (3): gender equality". Foresight. 15 (4): 264–277. doi:10.1108/fs-02-2012-0007.
  8. ^ "UAE Population Statistics in 2018 (Infographics) | GMI". Official GMI Blog. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  9. ^ SCAD. "SCAD". SCAD. Archived from the original on 2012-09-23. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  10. ^ "Publication Details". www.dsc.gov.ae. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  11. ^ "Sharjah's population crosses 1.4m, with more than 175,000 Emiratis and 1.2 million expatriates". Gulf News. May 15, 2018.
  12. ^ "Uae Population 1950-2021". www.macrotrends.net. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  13. ^ "Uae Population 1950-2021". www.macrotrends.net. Retrieved 2021-08-20.
  14. ^ "Population and demographic mix - The Official Portal of the UAE Government". u.ae. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  15. ^ "UAE Population Statistics 2022-2023". Digital Gravity. 2022-09-23. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  16. ^ "UAE demographics 2021 - StatisticsTimes.com". statisticstimes.com. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  17. ^ "United Arab Emirates Population Statistics (2021)". Official GMI Blog. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  18. ^ "United Arab Emirates Population 2021 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs)". worldpopulationreview.com. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  19. ^ a b "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". esa.un.org. Archived from the original on 2011-05-07. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
  20. ^ "Population leaps to 8.19 million". UAE Interact. May 30, 2010. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  21. ^ "Demographic Yearbook". UN Data. United Nations. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  22. ^ "United Arab Emirates in 2030: The Future Demographic" is now available at Fast Market Research. (2013, June 16). UKPRwire. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7C[permanent dead link]A334781206
  23. ^ "United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics". unstats.un.org.
  24. ^ "Population". Federal Competitivness and Statistics Authority. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  25. ^ "Geoba.se: Gazetteer - the World - Life Expectancy - Top 100+ by Country (2021)".
  26. ^ "World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  27. ^ Snoj, Jure (April 12, 2015). "UAE´s population - by nationality". bq Magazine. Archived from the original on March 21, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  28. ^ "World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  29. ^ "Elecciones Presidencia de la República".
  30. ^ United Arab Emirates, Ethnologue
  31. ^ Hopkyns, Sarah (2020-11-29), "Multilingualism and linguistic hybridity in Dubai", Multilingual Global Cities, Routledge, pp. 248–264, doi:10.4324/9780429463860-17, ISBN 9780429463860, S2CID 228826552, retrieved 2022-11-06
  32. ^ Christensen, Shane (2010). Frommer's Dubai. John Wiley & Sons. p. 174. ISBN 978-0470711781.
  33. ^ "Lari language".
  34. ^ a b c d e f g h i United Arab Emirates, on Ethnologue
  35. ^ Abu Dhabi includes Hindi as third official court language
  36. ^ UAE introduces Hindi as third official language
  37. ^ Not about numbers: Why Abu Dhabi labour court chose Hindi over Malayalam
Category