Dubai population rises by 226,885 since start of 2026

Dubai: Dubai’s population has increased by 226,885 people since the start of 2026, reaching 4,807,185 by midday Monday, according to figures from the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment, part of Digital Dubai.

The latest figure compares with 4,782,535 residents at the end of August and 4,580,300 at the end of 2025, indicating continued population growth across the emirate.

Digital Dubai previously said the population had reached about 4.58 million by the end of 2025, up around 332,000 from a year earlier, with official population figures now supported by administrative records, smart systems and real-time data. 

The Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment defines ordinarily resident people as those who usually live in the emirate for at least six months, or who intend to stay for that length of time. The population count is continuously updated.

Figures for 2025 showed that people aged 30 to 34 made up the largest age group in Dubai, accounting for 15.45 per cent of the population, underscoring the emirate’s large working-age population.

Dubai also added 62,800 households during 2025, taking the total to 858,000 from 795,200 in 2024, an increase of 7.9 per cent.

The figures also showed that about 1.81 million people travelled into Dubai each day during daytime hours in 2025, highlighting the scale of daily movement into the emirate.

Men accounted for 68.5 per cent of Dubai’s population last year, or 3.13 million people, while women represented 31.5 per cent, or 1.44 million.