Demographics of the United Arab Emirates

This article contains demographic features of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including population density, vital statistics, immigration and emigration data, ethnicity, education levels, religions practiced, and languages spoken within the UAE.

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% 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[1]	+1.53%
2016	9,269,610[1]	−0.27%
2018	9,599,353[2]	+1.76%
Sources:[3][4]

The United Arab Emirates witnessed significant population increase during the past few years because of major growth in the various economic sectors, which lead to influx of workers from diverse cultural and religious background. From 4.1 million in 2005 to roughly 9.5 million in 2018.[5] Out of this, the number of UAE citizens is around 11.5% and the remaining 88.5% made up of Expatriate workers. 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 population of working men and women who fall in the age category.[8] Population is heavily concentrated to the northeast on the Musandam Peninsula, the three largest Emirates - Abu Dhabi (2.9 million), Dubai (2.7 million) and Sharjah (1.4 million), are home to nearly 75% of the population.[9][10][11]

Population pyramid 2017

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)[12] 8,190,000 (NBS)[13]

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

[14]

Education and Employment

The United Arab Emirates government have always focused on increasing the quality of education, allowing female access to higher education and value their achievements. Currently, there are more women in higher education than men, with total graduates of 58 percent. However, the unemployment rate for women is about more than five times higher than men. The program that is the most popular is business with the highest number of graduates, and the second popular program is Humanities and social science.[7] The UAE relies on migrant workers, and they make up a majority of the population and will continue to increase and will be about 88.2 percent of the population in 2030.[15]

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[12]

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	9,304,300	97,738	8,826	88,912	10.5	0.9	9.6
2018		95,309	8,794	86,515	10.2	0.9	9.3

[16] [17]

Life expectancy

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[18]

Source: UN World Population Prospects[19]

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.[20]

Nationals of	Population	% of total population	Year of data
India	2,600,000	27.15%	2019
Pakistan	1,200,000	12.53%	2014
UAE	1,084,764	11.32%	2015
Bangladesh	700,000	7.31%	2013
Philippines	525,530	5.49%	2014
Iran*	400,000 – 500,000	4.18% – 5.22%	N/A
Egypt*	400,000	4.18%	2014
Nepal	300,000	3.13%	2014
Sri Lanka	300,000	3.13%	2015
Syria	>250,000[21]	≈2.6%	2016
United Kingdom	250,000	1.25%	2015
China	200,000	2.09%	2015
Jordan	200,000	2.09%	2015
Afghanistan	150,000	1.57%	<2011
Palestine	150,000	1.57%	2009
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
Canada	40,000	0.42%	2014
Kenya	40,000	0.42%	2014
France	25,000	0.26%	2015
Australia	16,000	0.17%	2015
Germany	12,000	0.12%	2013
Spain	12,000	0.11%	2015
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[22]
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

*The figures for the countries marked with a "*" cannot be directly sourced to embassy statements.

Ethnic groups

Main article: Expatriates in the United Arab Emirates

• Emirati nationals 11.32%
• Other Arab and Iranian nationalities ≈18%
• South Asian nationalities ≈60%
• Other expatriate nationalities (includes Westerners, East Asians and Africans) ≈12%[23]

Languages

A multilingual (Arabic, English, Urdu) signboard in the UAE

Arabic is the official and national language of the UAE. The Gulf dialect of Arabic is spoken by the Emirati people which differs in accents from other Arab/ Middle Eastern countries[24] The Larestani language (Persian dialect) is also spoken by a number of Emiratis.[25] Apart from Arabic, English is widely used. Other languages spoken in the UAE, due to immigration, include Malayalam, Urdu, Hindi, Persian, Cebuano, Pashto, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil, Baluchi (Southern Baluchi), Sinhala, Russian, Somali, Tagalog, Nepali, Mandarin, Telugu, Spanish, Italian and Greek.

Practiced religions

Main article: Religion in the United Arab Emirates

Religions are represented in the UAE as follows:[23]

• Islam (official) 76%
• Christian 12.6%
• Other 13% (primarily Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Etc)

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook unless otherwise indicated.[26]

Age structure

• 0–14 years: 0% (male 500,928/female 678,388)
• 15–24 years: 13.53% (male 476,813/female 324,982)
• 25–54 years: 61.27% (male 2,767,886/female 863,816)
• 55–64 years: 3.23% (male 142,661/female 48,715)
• 65 years and over: 1.04% (male 38,444/female 23,184)
• Note: 85% of the population consists of non-citizens (2005 est.).

Population growth rate

• 2.37% (2017 est.)

Net migration rate

• 11.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)

Sex ratio

• At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
• Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
• 15–24 years: 1.47 male(s)/female
• 25–54 years: 3.2 male(s)/female
• 55–64 years: 2.93 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 1.69 male(s)/female
• Total population: 2.18 male(s)/female (2016 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

• Total population:
• 77.5 years
• Male: 74.8 years
• Female: 80.2 years (2016 est.)

Total fertility rate

• 1.75 children born/woman (2016 est.)

Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births)

• Male: 12 deaths/1,000 births
• Female: 8.5 deaths/1,000 births
• Total: 10.3 deaths/1,000 births (2016 est.)

Citizenship

• Noun: Emirati(s)
• Adjective: Emirati

Dependency ratio

• Youth dependency ratio: 16.4%
• Elderly dependency ratio: 1.3%
• Total dependency ratio: 17.8%
• Potential support ratio: 74.6% (2015 est.)

Literacy

• Females: 95% (2016)[27]
• Males: 95% (2016)[27]

See also

• Demographics of Dubai
• Emirati diaspora

References

1. "Population (Total)". World Bank.
2. "United Arab Emirates Population (2018)". www.worldometers.info.
3. "UAE National Bureau of Statistics" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2013.
4. "United Arab Emirates". World Gazetteer. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009.
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. 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. 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. "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". esa.un.org. Archived from the original on 2011-05-07. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
13. "Population leaps to 8.19 million". UAE Interact. May 30, 2010. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
14. "Demographic Yearbook". UN Data. United Nations. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
15. "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%5B%5DA334781206
16. "United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics". unstats.un.org.
17. "Population". Federal Competitivness and Statistics Authority. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
18. http://www.geoba.se/population.php?pc=world&type=15
19. "World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
20. Snoj, Jure (April 12, 2015). "UAE´s population - by nationality". bq Magazine. Archived from the original on March 21, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
21. "The UAE is going to start taking in Syrian refugees - What's On Dubai". 29 September 2016.
22. https://elecciones1.registraduria.gov.co/pre_pres_2018/resultados/html/resultados.html
23. "Middle East :: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES". CIA The World Factbook.
24. Christensen, Shane (2010). Frommer's Dubai. John Wiley & Sons. p. 174. ISBN 978-0470711781.
25. "Lari language".
26. "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov.
27. "Education in the UAE | UAE Embassy in Washington, DC". www.uae-embassy.org. Retrieved 2017-04-05.