# Qataris
**Qataris** are the citizens of the State of Qatar, the indigenous Arab population who hold Qatari nationality. They form a small minority of the country's resident population: in 2023 Qatari nationals accounted for 11.3% of the population and expatriates for 88.7%, according to figures published by the Qatar National Planning Council[1](https://marketstats.ai/graphics/qatar-population-nationality-shares-2023/). Qatar has one of the lowest shares of citizens in its own population of any sovereign state, a situation the government itself describes as a demographic imbalance and addresses through an official population policy[2](https://gulfmigration.grc.net/explaining-the-demographic-imbalance-in-the-gulf-states/) • [3](https://www.ppc.gov.qa/en/PopulationPolicy/development/Pages/default.aspx).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Share of population | Qatari nationals 11.3%, expatriates 88.7% in 2023 (Qatar National Planning Council)[1](https://marketstats.ai/graphics/qatar-population-nationality-shares-2023/) |
| Estimated number | About 338,000 Qatari nationals in mid-2020, against 2,495,679 non-nationals (GLMM estimate)[2](https://gulfmigration.grc.net/explaining-the-demographic-imbalance-in-the-gulf-states/) |
| Official data status | No total population data broken down by nationality are officially published for Qatar[4](https://gulfmigration.grc.net/gcc-total-population-and-percentage-of-nationals-and-non-nationals-in-gcc-countries-national-statistics-mid-2024/) |
| Total population context | Qatar's total resident population was 3,143,491 in mid-2024 and almost 2,846 thousand at Census 2020[4](https://gulfmigration.grc.net/gcc-total-population-and-percentage-of-nationals-and-non-nationals-in-gcc-countries-national-statistics-mid-2024/) • [5](https://www.npc.qa/en/statistics/census2020/results/Pages/population.aspx) |
| Policy response | A national population policy targets the demographic composition, covering both the Qatari and non-Qatari populations[3](https://www.ppc.gov.qa/en/PopulationPolicy/development/Pages/default.aspx) |
| Genetics | A population-specific Qatari reference genome (QTRG) was built from 1,161 sequenced Qataris, about 0.4% of the population[6](https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.03233) |
## Size and demographic position
The 2020 census counted almost 2,846 thousand people in Qatar, an increase of about 1,147 thousand, or 67.5%, over Census 2010, with an annual growth rate of 5.3% between the two censuses[5](https://www.npc.qa/en/statistics/census2020/results/Pages/population.aspx). Growth of this kind is driven overwhelmingly by labor migration rather than by the citizen population: in mid-2020 the Gulf Labour Markets, Migration and Population (GLMM) program of the Gulf Research Center estimated the national population at 338,000 and the non-national population at 2,495,679, giving citizen shares of 11.8% and 88.2%[2](https://gulfmigration.grc.net/explaining-the-demographic-imbalance-in-the-gulf-states/).
That citizen share is the lowest among the six [Gulf Cooperation Council](https://www.edgepedia.org/gulf-cooperation-council) states. In mid-2020 the share of foreign nationals ranged from 39% in Saudi Arabia to 88% in Qatar[2](https://gulfmigration.grc.net/explaining-the-demographic-imbalance-in-the-gulf-states/). The cited World Bank document reports non-national shares of 88.5% in the UAE and 87.9% in Qatar, among the GCC's highest[7](https://tuhat.helsinki.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/567840129/Eraliev-Migration_Beyond_the_West-Media_Tryck-2025.pdf) • [10](https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099002211272487299/pdf/IDU-4b5501f1-f71f-45c9-87fa-509e7f3f0b80.pdf).
## Official statistics and the nationality gap
**Why exact counts are scarce.** Qatar does not publish total population figures broken down by nationality. The GLMM compilation of national statistics for mid-2024 lists Qatar's total resident population as 3,143,491 but records the national and non-national columns as not available, noting that no all-age population data by nationality are officially published and that the sources previously used for estimates had become unavailable[4](https://gulfmigration.grc.net/gcc-total-population-and-percentage-of-nationals-and-non-nationals-in-gcc-countries-national-statistics-mid-2024/). The GCC's own statistical yearbook carries the same limitation, flagging Qatar and the UAE as countries for which population data by nationality are not available[8](https://gccstats.org/images/gccstat/docman/publications/Statistical_Yearbook_2024_1.pdf).
What is published instead are national figures in aggregate and, periodically, selected breakdowns. The 2020 census results report marital-status distributions for Qataris aged 15 and above, showing, for example, divorced males and females at 3.3% and 5.2% and widowed males and females at 0.3% and 3.5% of that citizen population[5](https://www.npc.qa/en/statistics/census2020/results/Pages/population.aspx). The 2023 nationality split of 11.3% Qatari and 88.7% expatriate comes from the National Planning Council and is one of the few officially published two-way shares; country-by-country expatriate detail is not released in that source[1](https://marketstats.ai/graphics/qatar-population-nationality-shares-2023/).
## Population policy
The Permanent Population Committee manages a standing population policy that addresses the country's demographic challenges, including population size, growth rate, and demographic composition, and that concerns both the Qatari and non-Qatari populations[3](https://www.ppc.gov.qa/en/PopulationPolicy/development/Pages/default.aspx). The policy is periodically revised and is tied to Qatar National Vision 2030 and the successive national development strategies, including the Third National Development Strategy (2024-2028), which integrates the population dimension into its projects[3](https://www.ppc.gov.qa/en/PopulationPolicy/development/Pages/default.aspx) • [9](https://www.ppc.gov.qa/Admin/sukkannewletter/En%20Sukkan%2054%20_final.pdf).
## Population genetics
Qataris have been the subject of a dedicated genomics program. A population-specific reference genome for the indigenous Arab population of Qatar, the Qatar Genome (QTRG), was constructed using allele frequency data from sequencing 1,161 Qataris, about 0.4% of the population at the time. Replacing the standard GRCh37 reference with QTRG in a genome-analysis workflow produced an average of 7 times deeper coverage depth, an improvement of 23%, and 756,671 fewer variants on average, a 16% reduction attributed to common Qatari alleles being present in the new reference[6](https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.03233).
## References
1. [Qatar Population by Nationality, 2023, MarketStats.ai (data from Qatar National Planning Council)](https://marketstats.ai/graphics/qatar-population-nationality-shares-2023/)
2. [Explaining the "Demographic Imbalance" in the Gulf States, GLMM, Gulf Research Center](https://gulfmigration.grc.net/explaining-the-demographic-imbalance-in-the-gulf-states/)
3. [Population Policy Development Process, Permanent Population Committee, State of Qatar](https://www.ppc.gov.qa/en/PopulationPolicy/development/Pages/default.aspx)
4. [GCC: Total population and percentage of nationals and non-nationals in GCC countries (national statistics, mid-2024), GLMM](https://gulfmigration.grc.net/gcc-total-population-and-percentage-of-nationals-and-non-nationals-in-gcc-countries-national-statistics-mid-2024/)
5. [Census 2020 Results: Population, Qatar National Planning Council](https://www.npc.qa/en/statistics/census2020/results/Pages/population.aspx)
6. [The Qatar Genome: A Population-Specific Tool for Precision Medicine in the Middle East, arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.03233)
7. [Eraliev, S. (2025). Migration Beyond the West, University of Helsinki](https://tuhat.helsinki.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/567840129/Eraliev-Migration_Beyond_the_West-Media_Tryck-2025.pdf)
8. [GCC Annual Statistical Yearbook 2023, Gulf Cooperation Council Stat](https://gccstats.org/images/gccstat/docman/publications/Statistical_Yearbook_2024_1.pdf)
9. [The population policy of the State of Qatar, Permanent Population Committee newsletter](https://www.ppc.gov.qa/Admin/sukkannewletter/En%20Sukkan%2054%20_final.pdf)
10. [IDU 4b5501f1 F71f 45c9 87fa 509e7f3f0b80.pdf, documents1.worldbank.org](https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099002211272487299/pdf/IDU-4b5501f1-f71f-45c9-87fa-509e7f3f0b80.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Social life and human behavior › Communities and populations › Ethnic groups and peoples › Ethnic composition by place*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license