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Qatar employs some 2.3 million migrant workers in a total population of 2.6 million
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Its booming economy provided jobs in construction, oil industry
Countries in the Middle East have for long now beckoned people from South Asia and beyond to its shores, offering a better quality of life and employment benefits. But among the oil-rich countries that has been drawing more and more people to its shores has been the astonishingly rich state of Qatar.
Spread across a small desert peninsula extending northward from the larger Arabian Peninsula, the country’s population stands at 2.6 million people, according to the census of 2017, of which 313,000 were Qatari citizens and 2.3 million were migrant workers. Qatar has undertaken a massive construction program to prepare for the 2022 soccer World Cup building seven stadiums, a new airport as well as broad additions to its public transportation network. Like other countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Qatar is highly reliant on migrant workers, the majority of whom tend to voluntarily come from Asia and parts of Africa
The country has one of the world’s largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas and employs large numbers of foreign workers in its production process. Because of its oil wealth, the country’s residents enjoy a higher standard of living and a well-established system of social services.
Unlike other countries in the world, it has been able to keep the Covid pandemic at bay. The rate of infection has remained low in Qatar with around 250 people dying from the disease so far.