UAE has highest population growth rate in Arab world

The UAE has recorded the highest population growth rate in the Arab region because of a sharp increase in national births, better health services and continued influx of expatriates to benefit from expanding business opportunities, according to official figures.

Between 1983 and 1995, the UAE's population galloped by around 5.7 per cent while the rate was estimated at 5.31 per cent between 1995 and 2001, showed the figures published in the Arab economic report distributed by the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund.

The rate even quickened in 2002, when the population soared by more than six per cent to 3.48 million, from 3.28 million in 2001. Growth is projected at around 6.3 per cent in 2003, when the population is expected to exceed 3.7 million at the end of the year.

The increase is more underscored during the oil boom of late 1970s and early 1980s, when the population surged from less than a million in 1979 to 1.35 million in 1985. It jumped to 1.84 million in 1990 and 2.4 million in 1995.

"Population growth in the UAE is the highest in the Arab world and one of the highest in the world," said a report by the Arab Labour Organisation.