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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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United Arab Emirates
Index
A harsh environment and marginal economic conditions
kept the
population of the region low and economically depressed
until the
exploitation of oil. According to estimates, between 1900
and
1960 there were 80,000 to 95,000 inhabitants in the
amirates,
mostly in small coastal settlements. Although the
population of
the amirates probably did not increase a great deal during
this
period, there were considerable shifts within the
territories,
caused by changes in economic and political conditions.
Whereas
Sharjah was dominant in the nineteenth century, by 1939
Dubayy
was the most populous amirate, with an estimated
population of
20,000, one-quarter of whom were foreigners. The largest
minorities were Iranians and Indians in Dubayy and in
other
amirates. Abu Dhabi's onshore oil exports began in 1963,
bringing
wealth and a demand for foreign labor. The 1968 census,
conducted
under the British, was the area's first; it enumerated
180,226
inhabitants. Ever greater demands for labor and expertise
fueled
a population boom throughout the 1970s and early 1980s,
but
population growth has slowed since 1985.
The UAE had an officially estimated population of 1.9
million
in mid-1991. Only about 12 percent of the total actually
were UAE
citizens. The number of foreign workers has increased
dramatically since 1968, when they constituted 36 percent
of the
total population. By 1975 foreigners accounted for 70
percent of
the population, increasing to 80 percent in 1980 and to 88
percent in 1985. Since 1985, the percentage of foreigners
has
leveled at 88 percent. About 87 percent of the total
population
consists of ethnic Arabs. The largest non-Arab group
consists of
Asians from India and Pakistan, about 9.5 percent of the
population. Some 2 percent are Iranians. Other groups,
including
Africans and Europeans, make up less than 2 percent of the
population.
Although the population density was about twenty-five
persons
per square kilometer in 1991, the population was unevenly
distributed among the seven amirates. The three most
populous
amirates, Abu Dhabi, Dubayy, and Sharjah--together
accounted for
roughly 84 percent of the total population. The remaining
16
percent lived in Ras al Khaymah, Ajman, Al Fujayrah, and
Umm al
Qaywayn (see
table 25, Appendix).
The population of the UAE is overwhelmingly urban, with
more
than 90 percent of the people living in cities. The
largest city,
Abu Dhabi, the federal capital, had an estimated
population of
475,000 in 1992. Dubayy, the second largest city and the
UAE's
main port and commercial center, had an estimated
population of
395,000. The residential neighborhoods along the Persian
Gulf
coast north of the center of Dubayy were contiguous with
those of
the city of Sharjah (estimated population of 130,000).
Sharjah in
turn flowed into the city of Ajman (estimated population
of
30,000). About fifty kilometers north of Ajman is the city
of Ras
al Khaymah (estimated population of 45,000). The largest
inland
population concentration is in the contiguous villages and
residential developments at Al Ayn (estimated population
of
105,000) in Abu Dhabi's Al Buraymi Oasis.
Data as of January 1993
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