Dubai’s resident population crosses 3.1 million

Dubai’s resident population reached 3,136,400 at the end of the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 232,400 in the last 12 months, according to the Dubai Statistics Center (DSC).

Meanwhile Dubai’s active ‘daytime population’ is more than a million higher, at 4,291,400, the DSC said. That includes people who are in the city but do not reside in it.

The total active population in the third quarter of 2018 increased 7.7 per cent from the same period in 2017.

Arif Al Mehairi, DSC executive director, said: “The rise in population reflects Dubai’s growth as a dynamic economic and tourism hub.

“The population of non-resident workers and temporary residents in Dubai is currently 1,155,000, while the total active daytime population of the emirate is 4,291,400. As much as 37 per cent of Dubai’s active daytime population comes from outside the emirate,” he said.

DSC said that the net increase in the number of temporary residents in Dubai in the third quarter of 2018 was 6.6 per cent compared to the same period in 2017.

Meanwhile, the increase in the total resident population stands at 1.1 per cent.

Al Mehairi attributed the growth in population to Dubai’s appeal as an ‘international commercial hub that attracts people from across the world’.

The latest population data from DSC also shows that males constitute 49.5 per cent of the Emirati population while females account for 50.5 per cent (89 males to 100 females).

In the total resident population of Dubai, males account for 2,195,480 while females account for 940,920.

The vastly higher proportion of males in Dubai’s population (233 males to 100 females) is attributed to the fact that a majority of expatriate workers are males who live in Dubai without their families.

The data also showed that the 20-44 age group accounts for 66.45 per cent of the population.

Among them, 563,525 individuals representing 17.97 per cent of the total are aged between 30-34, followed by 521,747 individuals aged between 25-29 (16.63 per cent) and 419,642 people aged 35-39 (13.38 per cent).

“DSC adopts international standards and methodologies to monitor Dubai’s rapidly changing population profile,” said Al Mehairi.

“Data of both the resident and transient population of Dubai is crucial to identify infrastructural, social and economic needs. It is necessary to provide planners, decision-makers and investors an integrated and holistic picture of the demographic realities and movement of people within the emirate,” he added.

Overall, Dubai’s population has grown 261 times in 137 years – from 12,000 in 1881 to cross three million in 2018.