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People
Cultural Demography
Natives of the Arabian Peninsula, most Qataris are descendants from a number of migratory tribes that came to Qatar in the 18th century to escape the harsh conditions of the neighboring areas of Nejd and Al-Hasa. Some are also descendants from Omani tribes.
The tiny population of Qatar numbers around one million people. The majority of the population lives in the capital, Doha. Most of them are South Asians from India and Pakistan, Egyptians, Palestinians, Jordanians and Iranians.
Arabic is the official language, although English is also widely spoken.
Islam is the state religion, and is claimed by virtually all of the indigenous population. The Qataris are mainly Sunni "Wahhabi" Muslims-a puritanical and traditional branch of Islam. As such, Islamic jurisprudence and Shari'ah (Islamic law) is the basis of Qatar's legal system.
Human Development
In terms of societal structure and education, school instruction is compulsory and free for all Arab residents 6-16 years old. Qatar, therefore, has a high, gender-balanced literacy rate of 89 percent. In so far as health and welfare is concerned, Qatar's infant mortality rate is 16.88 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy at birth for the total population is 74.38 years -- 71.82 years for males and 77.07 years for females.
About 2.5 percent of GDP in this country is spent on health expenditures; about 3.3 percent of GDP in this country is spent on education. Access to water and sanitation in this country is regarded to be excellent.
One notable measure used to determine a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which has been compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a recent ranking of 169 countries, the HDI placed Qatar in the very high human development category, at 38th place. Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief, www.countrywatch.com . See Bibliography for list of general research sources.
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