Doha: Qatar’s population has gained by 13.2% over the last year, official data showed, as the tiny Gulf Arab state recruits thousands of abroad workers ahead of hosting the soccer World Cup next month to cope with an exceptional deluge of fans.
Qatar’s population stood at 2.94 million after some 370,000 extra people moved to Qatar over the last year, based on data collected in September and released by Qatar’s statistics authority last week.
Low-income migrant workers and other outsiders make up the majority of the country’s population while Qatari nationals number around 380,000.
World Cup coordinators face a staff deficiency as Qatar prepares to receive an estimated 1.2 million visitors during soccer’s biggest event, which is expected to put pressure on its infrastructure, hospitality, and security sector.
Lodging administrator Accor is recruiting 12,000 temporary overseas employees to operate 65,000 rooms in apartments and homes serving as temporary fan lodging. Qatar has an agreement with Turkey to provide more than 3,000 riot police and Pakistan has also consented to deploy troops to Qatar during this football tournament.
According to budget reports Qatar has built expressways, seven soccer stadiums, hotels, and skyscrapers, spending at least $229 billion on infrastructure. Around half of Qatar’s population is employed in the construction industry.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts in the years after the tournament, Qatar’s population is expected to decline by about 1.2% year-on-year and shrink to 2.5 million by 2027,
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be played from 20 November to 18 December. This will be the first World Cup ever to be held in the Arab world, and the second World Cup held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.
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