Muscat: Oman must brace for a rising demand for jobs among young Omanis, whose numbers, the latest census figures show, have increased significantly, according to Ahmad Bin Abdul Nabi Macki, Minister of National Economy.
Releasing the preliminary results of the country's census for 2010, Macki said that proportion of Omani population below the age of 15 has declined compared to 2003, but showed an increase in those above 15.
"A segment eligible for employment has increased and we will have to work hard to create more jobs for them," Macki said in reply to a question by Gulf News on Monday at the release of preliminary results of Oman’s Census 2010 at the National Economy Ministry.
Oman's total population, according to the preliminary results, is 2,694,000 compared to 2,341,000 counted in 2003 showing a 15 per cent increase in the total population.
The expatriates in the country increased more than Omanis in the last seven years as rapid development in the country has created more jobs.
However, a large number of expatriates, those who are holidaying outside Oman in this festive season and those living here without legal status are not counted in this census.
"We have had difficulties in counting illegal residents as they were not forthcoming and we also missed those outside the country in this festive season," Macki noted.
In reply to a question, he said that the census department didn't have statistics to say how many expatriates with illegal status were not counted. But he added: "According to information given by the Manpower Ministry there are still 80,000 expatriates living in Oman without legal status."
In the latest count, Omanis in the country are 1,951,000, an increase of 9.48 per cent from the 1,782,000 count in 2003 while the number of expatriates showed an increase of 32.9 per cent at 743,000 against the total count 559,000 in 2003.
Therefore, the ratio of Omani citizens and foreign workforce in the country has also narrowed slightly. In 2003 it was 3:1 while now the ratio is 2.6 Omanis to one expatriate.
Ali Bin Mehboob Al Raisi, Director General of Census Department in Oman, pointed out that Omani population covered by the enumeration was the totality of the member of Omani household residing in Oman, irrespective of their place of residence at the time the census was taken.
He pointed out that the average six of Omani household declined from eight persons in the 2003 census to 7.5 in the current count.
The participation of Omani women in the workforce kept increasing and reached 27 per cent of the total national workforce from 22.2 per cent in 2003 and 8.6 per cent in 1993.
The illiteracy rate of Omani population also dropped from 21.9 per cent in 2003 to 12.2 per cent in the latest census, pointed out Al Raisi.
