Demographics of the United Arab Emirates


Demographic features of the United Arab Emirates include population density, vital statistics, immigration and emigration data, ethnicity, education levels, religions practiced, and languages spoken within the UAE.
The majority of the population comes from South Asia, and is predominantly Muslim.

Population

The United Arab Emirates experienced a significant population increase in recent years as a result of major economic growth. This led to an influx of workers from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, increasing the population from 4 million in 2004 to roughly 11.35 million in 2024. As of 2024, foreigners represent 88.50% of the population, the third largest proportion of expats in the world in relation to the nationals after Qatar and the Vatican. As of 2024, the largest group of non-UAE nationals are South Asian 68.36%, Filipinos 6.1%, Iranians 4.72%, Egyptians 4.23% and other 2.16%.
Female citizens and non-citizens account for 36.20% percent of the UAE's population due to the high level of male foreign workers. The majority of the UAE population is between 25 and 54 years old 64.12%. A large part of this can be attributed to the expatriate worker population who fall in the age category. Population is heavily concentrated to the northeast on the Musandam Peninsula. The three largest Emirates, are home to nearly 83% of the population.
As of 2024 the population of the UAE stood at 11.35 million, with 63.80% being male and 36.20% female. The country's total fertility rate was 1.46, while that of the Emirati citizen population was 3.1, significantly higher than the national average, though reflecting a 16% decline from 3.7 in 2015. In 2024 the population density of the Emirates has reached a record 114 per km2.
EmirateCensus 1975Census 1985Census 1995Census 2005Est. 2025
Abu Dhabi211,812566,036942,4631,399,4843,789,860
Dubai183,187370,788689,4201,321,4533,943,683
Sharjah78,790228,317402,792793,5731,808,000
Ajman16,69054,546121,491206,997504,846
Umm Al-Quwain6,90819,28535,36149,15949,159
Ras Al-Khaimah43,84596,578143,334210,063400,000
Fujairah16,65543,75376,180125,698316,790
Total557,8871,379,3032,411,0414,106,42711,350,000.

Age structure

Age groupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total2 806 1411 300 2864 106 427100
0-4145 601136 538282 1396.87
5-9139 929129 453269 3826.56
10-14130 778118 279249 0576.07
15-19121 388110 838232 2265.66
20-24272 036161 530433 56610.56
25-29483 657178 137661 79416.12
30-34489 879150 482640 36115.59
35-39386 762113 844500 60612.19
40-44262 71878 543341 2618.31
45-49174 45951 311225 7705.50
50-54107 33931 539138 8783.38
55-5951 30315 80467 1071.63
60-6418 8208 52727 3470.67
65-699 1725 28514 4570.35
70-745 3914 0139 4040.23
75-792 4401 8374 2770.10
80-841 5371 4392 9760.07
85+1 2501 1652 4150.06
unknown1 6821 7223 4040.08
Age groupMaleFemaleTotalPercent
0-14416 308384 270800 57819.50
15-642 366 679898 8333 265 51279.52
65+21 47215 46136 9330.90

Vital statistics

UN estimates

Source: United National World Population Prospects

Registered births and deaths

YearPopulationLive birthsDeathsNatural increaseCrude birth rateCrude death rateRate of natural increaseTFR
1976646,90021,39433.1
1977748,10023,11930.9
1978852,20027,64532.4
1979952,00031,68533.3
19801,042,00034,77433.4
19811,121,00038,54734.4
19821,190,00041,96135.3
19831,253,00043,41934.7
19841,318,00043,70433.2
19851,391,00044,19231.8
19861,472,00045,4603,22242,23830.92.228.7
19871,561,00047,7033,23144,47230.62.128.5
19881,656,00050,8363,44747,38930.72.128.6
19891,756,00051,9033,64048,26329.62.127.5
19901,860,00052,2643,93848,32628.12.126.0
19911,970,00049,4964,02645,47025.42.023.4
19922,087,00050,6044,27146,33324.22.022.2
19932,207,00050,1974,34245,85522.72.020.7
19942,329,00052,4404,58447,85622.52.020.5
19952,449,00048,5674,77943,78819.82.017.8
19962,571,00047,0504,78542,26518.31.916.4
19972,700,00046,3604,87841,48217.21.815.4
19982,838,00048,1365,03343,10317.01.815.2
19992,988,00049,6595,19444,46516.61.714.9
20003,155,00053,6865,39648,29017.01.715.3
20013,326,00056,1365,77750,35916.91.715.2
20023,507,00058,0705,99452,07516.61.714.9
20033,742,00061,1656,00255,16316.31.614.7
20044,088,00063,1136,12356,99015.41.513.9
20054,580,00064,6236,36158,26214.11.412.7
20065,242,00062,9606,48356,47712.01.210.8
20076,044,00067,6777,41460,26311.21.210.0
20086,894,00068,7797,75561,0249.91.18.8
20097,666,00076,3667,78968,57710.01.09.0
20108,271,00079,6257,41472,2119.60.98.7
20118,672,00083,9507,35076,6009.70.88.9
20128,900,00089,5787,70281,87610.10.99.2
20139,006,00093,5398,01588,52410.40.99.5
20149,071,00095,8608,26587,59510.60.99.7
20159,154,00097,3288,75588,57310.61.09.6
20169,121,20098,2998,98889,31110.81.09.8
20179,304,27797,7388,82688,91210.50.99.6
20189,366,82895,3098,79486,51510.20.99.3
20199,503,73894,6979,00685,69110.01.09.0
20209,282,41097,57210,35787,21510.51.19.4
20219,861,00792,77711,91180,8669.71.28.51.494
202210,288,94696,63111,76284,8699.41.18.31.611
202310,678,556101,08811,51489,5749.51.18.4
202411,294,24312,7411.1

Life expectancy

PeriodLife expectancy in
Years		PeriodLife expectancy in
Years
1950–195543.91985–199070.7
1955–196049.61990–199572.2
1960–196554.71995–200073.6
1965–197059.62000–200574.8
1970–197563.42005–201075.9
1975–198066.42010–201576.7
1980–198568.8201978

Source: ''UN World Population Prospects''

Ethnic groups

The UAE National Bureau of Statistics does not publish demographic data in relation to any nationality. The figures listed in the table below are estimates provided by each country's embassy.
Source: United Arab Emirates Population Statistics
Nationals ofPopulation% of total populationYear of data
India

Languages

LanguageNumber of speakers
Gulf Arabic3,480,000
Modern Standard Arabic3,090,000
Malayalam1,060,000
South Levantine Arabic499,000
Tamil455,000
Northern Pashto379,000
Southern Balochi379,000
Hejazi Arabic370,000
Kannada337,000
Tagalog303,000
Omani Arabic303,000
Iranian Persian303,000
Egyptian Arabic284,000
French language250,000
Eastern Punjabi201,000
Southern Pashto144,000
North Levantine Arabic127,000
Sinhala121,000
Sindhi102,000

Arabic is the official language. English is the most used language amongst expatriates and in business. Arabic is the main medium of instruction at all levels of schooling in government schools, while English is taught as a second language and used for teaching technical or scientific subjects. Private schools can follow a different curriculum and use a different language.
Emirati people speak Gulf Arabic. The Achomi language is also spoken by a 303,000 people in the UAE.
Other languages spoken in the UAE, due to immigration, include other Arabic dialects, Malayalam, Hindi–Urdu, Marathi, Persian, Cebuano, Pashto, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Odia, Telugu, Baluchi and Southern Baluchi, Sinhala, Russian, Ukrainian, Somali, Tagalog, Nepali, Mandarin, Tamil, Spanish, Italian and Greek.
In 2019, Abu Dhabi included Hindi as third official court language. Currently, the UAE government provides lectures and tests to obtain a driving license in Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali, besides Arabic and English.