The United Arab Emirates is a thriving state of the Islamic world. One of the richest and safest countries, whose capital is growing every year. What does the local population do? What kind of people live in the UAE?
What country is it?
In the east of the Arabian Peninsula, in Asia, the state of the United Arab Emirates is located. The name of this country has one not quite familiar word “Emirates”. Therefore, before talking about the UAE, we will deal with this. The emirate, just like the sultanate, imamat and caliphate, is a state of the Islamic world with a monarchical form of government. There are few emirates in the world. In the Middle East, among them are also Qatar and Kuwait.
The UAE is a federation that consists of seven "kingdoms": Dubai, Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, Umm al-Qaiwain and Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah. The members of each of them are members of the Supreme Council of Rulers, and he elects the president of the country. At the moment, the president is the ruler of Abu Dhabi - the largest city, the capital of the country. The government is headed by the emir of Dubai.
Each emirate has its own executive authorities accountable to the head of state. The government strictly controls all political and economic processes in the country, therefore the UAE is one of the stable world states.
UAE on the map
The country is located in southwest Asia, surrounded by Saudi Arabia (from the south and west), Qatar (from the northwest), Oman (from the north and east). It is washed by the waters of the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. The total area of the United Arab Emirates is 83,600 square kilometers. The capital of the state, as mentioned above, is the city of Abu Dhabi, located in the emirate of the same name, which occupies more than 85% of the entire country. The smallest "kingdom" - Ajman, occupies only 250 square meters. km
The territory of the UAE is mainly covered with rocky and sandy deserts. In the north and east of the state are mountains. This exotic country is characterized by a tropical desert climate. It's hot and dry here. The temperature in the summer can reach +50 degrees. In winter, the average temperature drops to +23 degrees.
In the coastal regions are salt deposits. The bowels of the UAE are rich in uranium, coal, platinum, nickel, copper, chromites, iron ore, bauxites, magnesites. Although the country's main treasures are oil and gas. The Arab Emirates ranks seventh in the world in oil reserves and fifth in gas reserves. For the next hundred years, the state is fully provided with these precious resources.
Arab Emirates Population
About 9 million inhabitants live in the country. The population of the United Arab Emirates is not densely populated. About 65 people live on one square kilometer. Such an indicator is considered normal for European rather than Asian countries. The state is characterized by a high level of urbanization, the urban population prevails over the rural.
The largest city is Dubai. Back in the early 2000s, more than 30% of the entire UAE population lived in the city . The next largest cities are Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, Al Ain and others. The population of Abu Dhabi is approximately 900 thousand people.
Most of the population lives in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, in the remaining emirates only 25% of all residents are concentrated. The influx of labor provides a significant increase in numbers. Over the past 5 years, the population of the United Arab Emirates has increased by 2 million.
Population structure
Since the emergence of the UAE state on the world map, it has begun active economic development. This, of course, entailed the appearance of immigrants from other countries. Men come to work more often in the country; therefore, in recent years, the male population has almost three times exceeded the female population. Among local residents, the stronger sex is about 50%.
The population of the United Arab Emirates is quite young, 80% of the population are under 60 years old. The number of people over 60 is approximately 1.5%. A high level of development and social security ensures low mortality and an extremely high birth rate.
The indigenous population is 20%, the remaining 80% are from other countries, mainly from Asia and the Middle East. Citizens of the country are 12% of the population. Europeans make up about 2.5%. The country has approximately 49% ethnic Arabs. The most numerous peoples of the UAE are Indians and Pakistanis. Bedouins, Egyptians, Omanis, Saudi Arabs, Filipinos, Iranians live in the state. Most of them come from countries with a low standard of living, such as Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Tanzania.
Religion and language
The United Arab Emirates is an Islamic state. Almost all of its citizens are Muslims. Most of them are Sunnis, about 14% are Shiites. Half of the visitors also adhere to the Islamic religion. About 26% of immigrants are Hindus, 9% are Christians. The rest are Buddhists, Sikhs, Bahai.
In each of the emirates, there are Christian churches. However, the government carefully supports Islam and Sharia law. According to the legislation of the country, it is strictly forbidden to convert Muslims to a different faith. For such a violation is given up to ten years in prison.
The official language is Arabic. English is often used in business communication; most residents speak it well. In the conversation of local residents, the classic Arabic mixes with Bedouin vocabulary. Among immigrants, Baluchin, Bengali, Somali, Farsi, Telugu, Pashto are common. The most popular languages are Hindi and Urdu.
Economics and labor
The foundation of the state’s economy is oil and natural gas production. More than 2 million barrels of oil are produced per day. At the same time, foreign trade, re-export of goods previously imported into the UAE, agriculture, tourism are developing. The strength of the United Arab Emirates is the telecommunications sector, as well as a developed transit transport system.
The economically active population is 1.5 million people, a third of them are foreigners. A couple of decades ago, the government of the United Arab Emirates resolved the issue of labor resources, creating decent working conditions and high salaries for immigrants. Thanks to this, a wave of people wishing to earn poured into the country. Now almost 80% of newcomers work in the service sector, about 14% are laborers in the industrial sector, and only 6% are in agriculture.
Important positions in the field of politics, economics, finance and justice are occupied only by UAE citizens. Recently, the state has been taking measures to limit the influx of immigrants into the country. Mostly illegal immigrants try to weed out.
Citizens and immigrants
The policy of the Arab Emirates in relation to its citizens is very loyal. As mentioned above, they occupy only prestigious posts. Citizens of the country can start working already in their teens, while their first salary is already about 4 thousand dollars. The older the Emirate Arab becomes, the higher his salary.
Education and medicine are completely free. With excellent academic performance, future students are allowed to choose any world university for study without an obligation to return to the country. Upon reaching adulthood, each UAE Arab is entitled to a piece of land and a certain amount of money. For local women, almost the same privileges apply except land.
It is quite difficult for immigrants to obtain local citizenship. The easiest way to do this is for residents of Arab countries. To do this, they must live in the country for 7 years, the inhabitants of Qatar, Bahrain and Oman - 3 years. In order for a child to be recognized as a citizen, his father must officially be a local Arab; automatically citizenship cannot be obtained. The majority of the UAE population has only a work visa.
Conclusion
The United Arab Emirates strongly supports and protects its citizens. All of them are entitled to prestigious positions, significant sums of money and land. However, of the 9 million inhabitants of the country, the true local population represents only a small part. Most of the residents are workers who came from other countries. High salaries, good working conditions make huge flows of people annually arrive in the UAE to work mainly in the service sector.