Who lives in Qatar?

Friday afternoons - Residents of South Asia origin flood the streets on their day off

What is the population breakdown in Qatar?

Most of us know that local Qataris only make up 10-15% of the 2.5 million population. Who are the rest of the residents then?

I'm sure there are many official population census that gives you accurate breakdown. But, what's the street breakdown? In other words, other than official figures, who does one actually sees or meet on the streets, in the offices and in the malls?

This is my street estimate of the population breakdown of Qatar:

Indian Subcontinent (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri-Lankans, Nepalese, etc): 35%
Arabic Origin (Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Yemenis, Lebanese, etc): 25%
Filipinos: 20%
First world (Americans, Europeans, Japanese, Koreans, etc): 10%
African origin: 5%
Others: 5%

These percentages are street estimate but I suspect should be close to official figures. These nationalities keep to a very broad band of the services and professions they work in. However, you can make some general assumptions, it is likely that:

Your Bus/Taxi/Limousine driver is likely to be from Bangladesh. 

It's funny but every Taxi driver I meet in Dubai is from Pakistan while every driver I used to meet in Qatar seems to be from Bangladesh. The nationalities has widen so they may come from India, Pakistan or Africa nowadays.

Your supermarket cashier is likely to be from Philippines. 

Every supermarket or shops seems to employ Filipinos for cashiering duties. Even large Hypermarket like Lulu, which is Indian owned, and employs Indians for every other supermarket role seems to only employ Filipinos for their cashiers. Is it because Filipinos are honest or quick on the count?

When you visit a 5-star hotel, the concierge or restaurant manager is likely to be Jordanians or Lebanese. 

In many supervisory, retail or F&B positions where there is a need to be fluent in English and Arabic, the Jordanians and Lebanese come forth with their language skills that allow them to easily mix and converse with their Arabic and English speaking clients directly.

If your child is in an International school, his/her teacher is likely to be from USA or Europe. 

You can bet that when you visit International schools that charge US$20,000 or more a year or Gordan Ramsey's fancy restaurant at the Pearl, the person receiving you is likely to be a white person from USA or Europe.

Qataris? 

Unless you work in the civil service sector or in a Qatari owned company, your chances of working or liaising with a Qatari is extremely small. I can count with one hand the number of times I had to speak to a Qatari on official matters. Even the traffic police or civil service officials whom you meet are not Qataris but Arabs working in Qatar.

Other nationalities are also beginning to make a presence in this country. It is not strange to find Turkish, Greek, Chinese and Korean construction companies participating in large construction projects all over Qatar.

The percentage and roles each nationality play is obviously a generalisation in this article. Of course, each nationality is represented in all jobs and roles and cuts across all sectors and profession and you are likely to come across some or all of them in your work and day to day living in Qatar.

As Qatar marches towards modernistion and World Cup 2022, we'll still continue to see large numbers of foreigners coming into Qatar. How these percentages will play out, we'll find out as it happens.