1. Home EN
2. Stenden
3. Locations
4. Qatar
5. About State Of Qatar
6. Population

Population 

Almost all Qataris profess Islam. Besides ethnic Arabs, much of the population migrated from various nations to work in the country’s oil industry. Arabic serves as the official language. However, English as well as many other languages like Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, and Persian are widely spoken in Qatar.

Expatriates form the majority of Qatar’s residents. The petrochemical industry has attracted people from all around the world. Most of the expatriates come from South Asia and from non-oil-rich Arab states. Because a large percentage of the expatriates are male, Qatar has a heavily skewed sex ratio, with 1.8528 males per female.[9]

In July 2007, the country had a growing population of approximately 907,229 people,[9] of whom approximately 350,000 were believed to be citizens.[12] Of the citizen population, Sunni Muslims form a majority, while the Shi'a Muslims count up to 10-13% of the population. The Wahhabi Muslims form the third group in size, probably no more than 10% of the population, to include the ruling dynasty and a large number of the elite families. The ancient Shia community of Qatar are historically related to the Shia majority in Bahrain and the al-Hasa coastal province of Saudi Arabia.

The majority of the estimated 800,000 non-citizens are individuals from South and South East Asian and Arab countries working on temporary employment contracts in most cases without their accompanying family members. They are of the following faiths: Sunni Muslims, Shi'a Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Bahá'ís. Most foreign workers and their families live near the major employment centers of Doha, Al Khor, Messaeed, and Dukhan.

No foreign missionary groups operate openly in the country but in 2008 the government allowed some churches to conduct mass. In March 2008 the Roman Catholic church “Our Lady of the Rosary” was consecrated in Doha.