Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi city’s population is increasing by one person every two minutes and 48 seconds, according to figures released recently by the Abu Dhabi Statistics Centre (Scad).
The total population of the capital has reached around 2.5 million people, the centre said in a ceremony attended by Nasser Ahmad Al Suwaidi, chairman of the board of directors of Scad.
“Three initiatives have been launched to show an estimate of the capital’s current population, such as the Abu Dhabi population clock which projects the latest estimated resident population for the city and assumes a total population increase of one person every 2 minutes and 48 seconds,” said Ahmad Mohammad Bin Butti Al Qubaisi, director-general of Scad.
“Additionally, a purchasing power calculator, which compares the relative value of a past amount of dirhams to a present amount, is one of the initiatives lately introduced. The calculator will be used to determine the value of an amount of money in a particular ‘original’ year to another ‘desired’ year. The applicant should enter the values in the appropriate places shown on the Scad website.
“For example, you may want to know: how much money you would need in 2012 to have the same purchasing power of Dh100 in 2002. If you entered these values in the correct places, you will find that the answer is Dh168.61,” he explained.
The consumer price index (CPI) is the official measure of consumer inflation in Abu Dhabi emirate. The CPI is based on the total expenditure of all households in a particular year or month, which can now be measured by the personal inflation calculator newly introduced by the centre.
“This inflation calculator is aimed at allowing the public to gauge what their own inflation rate might be. It will also allow you to capture your own personal expenditure patterns as weights.
“When you put down your expenditure, you should exclude any payments that are savings or investments and you can include the main 12 items of spending common for individuals including housing, water, transport, communication, education, health, clothing and footwear,” Al Qubaisi added.
Several private and government agencies will benefit from the purchasing power calculator, including decision makers in financial institutions, researchers and businessmen as well as investors and dealers within the UAE.
A new survey to measure family spending and household income for 2013-2014 will be conducted next June to provide a reflection of the living conditions in the emirate.
The centre will also conduct a survey to compute the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the emirate of Abu Dhabi during June as well as to measure the size and spatial distribution of labour forces and unemployment rates in Abu Dhabi city.
The Abu Dhabi Statistics Centre is keen to build an advanced and up-to-date database of the labour force status of all population members, their occupations and economic activities.
Al Qubaisi said: “Spending on statistics is growing continuously to meet the needs of the sustainable development in the UAE,” adding that, “Spending on statistical systems has been increased dramatically by 50 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012 to ensure this.”
