QATAR

Geographical Location
The Qatari peninsula juts 100 miles (161 km) north into the Persian Gulf from Saudi Arabia
and is slightly smaller than the state ofConnecticut, USA. It lies between latitudes 24° and 27°
N, and longitudes 50° and 52° E.

Much of the country consists of a low, barren plain, covered with sand. To the southeast lies
the spectacular Khor al Adaid (“Inland Sea”), an area of rolling sand dunes surrounding
an inlet of the Persian Gulf. There are mild winters and very hot, humid summers.

The highest point in Qatar is Qurayn Abu al Bawl at 103 metres (338 ft)[1 in the Jebel Dukhan
to the west, a range of low limestoneoutcroppings running north-south from Zikrit
through Umm Bab to the southern border. The Jebel Dukhan area also contains Qatar’s main
onshore oil deposits, while the natural gas fields lie offshore, to the northwest of the
peninsula.

Capital
Doha, the first big cities and economic, transportation and cultural centre, Persian gulf famous
ports in the world. Located at the east coast of the central al jazeera, summer climate hot and
damp, winter climate is cool. Population of about 100 million (2008), about 50% of the
population.

Language

Population

Besides ethnic Arabs, much of the population is made up of expatriates taking up

employment in various sectors of the Qatari economy. Arabic serves as the official language.
However, English as well as many other languages
like Hindi, Tamil, Pashto, Malayalam, Punjabi, Urdu, Sindhi, Balochi, Telugu, Bengali, Tagalog
, and Persian are widely spoken in Qatar.

Expatriates form the majority of Qatar’s residents - nearly three quarters of the population.
[27]
 The petrochemical industry has attracted people from all around the world. Most of the
expatriates come from South Asia (mainly India and to a lesser extent, Pakistan), and from
non-oil-rich Arab states. Because a large percentage of the expatriates are male, Qatar has a
heavily skewed sex ratio, with 3.46 males per female.[28]

In April 2001, the country had a growing population of approximately 907,229 people, [14] of
whom approximately 350,000 were believed to be citizens. [29]
The majority of the estimated 550,000 non-citizens are individuals from South and South East
Asian and Arab countries working on temporary employment contracts in most cases without
their accompanying family members. Most foreign workers and their families live near the
major employment centers of Doha, Al Khor, Mesaieed, and Dukhan

Political system/Government

Qatar has an emirate-type government.[14] Its legal system combines Islamic and civil law
codes in a discretionary system of law controlled by the Emir. Although civil codes are being
implemented, Islamic law dominates family and personal matters. The country has not
accepted compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction.

Cultural practices

Qatari culture (music, art, dress, and cuisine) is similar to that of other Arab countries of the
Persian Gulf; see Culture of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. Arab tribes from Saudi Arabia
migrated to Qatar and other places in the gulf; therefore, the culture in the Persian Gulf region
varies little from country to country.

Qatar explicitly uses Sharia law as the basis of its government, and the vast majority of its
citizens follow Hanbali Madhhab. Hanbali (Arabic: ‫ ) حنبلى‬is one of the four schools
(Madhhabs) of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam (The other three are Hanafi, Maliki and
Shafii). Sunni Muslims believe that all four schools have "correct guidance", and the
differences between them lie not in the fundamentals of faith, but in finer judgments and
jurisprudence, which are a result of the independent reasoning of the imams and the scholars
who followed them. Because their individual methodologies of interpretation and extraction
from the primary sources (usul) were different, they came to different judgments on particular
matters. Shi'ascomprise around 30% of the Muslim population in Qatar (including foreigners).

Alcohol is legal with a permit but it is not permitted to drink it in public

Religion

Islam is the predominant religion. While Muslims constitute 80% of the population [14] only 6%
of these Muslims are Shia.
The majority of non-citizens are from South and Southeast Asian and Arab countries working
on temporary employment contracts, accompanied by family members in some cases. [citation
needed]
 Non-citizens can be Sunni or Shi'a Muslims, Protestant or
Catholic Christians,Hindus, Buddhists, or Bahá'ís.

The Hindu community is almost exclusively from India[citation needed], while Buddhists come from

South, Southeast, and East Asia[citation needed]. Most Bahá'ís in Qatar come from Iran[citation needed].
Religion is not a criterion for citizenship, according to the Nationality Law but, according to
CIA estimates, 80% of the population are Muslim, 6.5% are Christian and 13.5% are "Other".
[14]

No foreign missionary groups operate openly in the country, [25] but the government allows
churches to conduct Mass. In March 2008 the firstRoman Catholic Church “Our Lady of the
Rosary” was consecrated in Doha. Besides Roman Catholics, there are also some Protestant
sects like the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[26]

Traditions/habit

Economy
Qatar has experienced rapid economic growth over the last several years on the back of high
oil prices, and in 2008 posted its eighth consecutive budget surplus. Economic policy is
focused on developing Qatar's nonassociated natural gas reserves and increasing private
and foreign investment in non-energy sectors, but oil and gas still account for more than 50%
of GDP, roughly 85% of export earnings, and 70% of government revenues.

Oil and gas have made Qatar the second highest per-capita income country –
following Liechtenstein – and one of the world's fastest growing. Proved oil reserves of 15
billion barrels should enable continued output at current levels for 37 years. Qatar's proved
reserves of natural gas are nearly 26 trillion cubic meters, about 14% of the world total and
third largest in the world.

Before the discovery of oil, the economy of the Qatari region focused on fishing and pearl
hunting. After the introduction of the Japanesecultured pearl onto the world market in the
1920s and 1930s, Qatar's pearling industry faltered. However, the discovery of oil, beginning
in the 1940s, completely transformed the state's economy. Now the country has a
high standard of living, with many social services offered to its citizens and all the amenities of
any modern state.

Qatar’s national income primarily derives from oil and natural gas exports. The country has oil
reserves of 15 billion barrels, while gas reserves in the giant North Field (South Pars for Iran)
which straddles the border with Iran and are almost as large as the peninsula itself are
estimated to be between 80 trillion cubic feet (2.3×10 12 m3) to 800 trillion cubic feet
(23×1012 m3) (1 trillion cubic feet of gas is equivalent to about 180 million barrels (29×106 m3)
of oil). Qatar is sometimes referred to as the Saudi Arabia of natural gas.
Qataris’ wealth and standard of living compare well with those of Western European states;
Qatar has the highest GDP per capita in the Arab World according to the International
Monetary Fund (2006)[19] and the second highest GDP per capita in the world according to the
CIA World Factbook.[14] With no income tax, Qatar, along with Bahrain, is one of the countries
with the lowest tax rates in the world.

While oil and gas will probably remain the backbone of Qatar’s economy for some time to
come, the country seeks to stimulate the private sector and develop a “knowledge economy”.
In 2004, it established the Qatar Science & Technology Park to attract and serve technology-
based companies and entrepreneurs, from overseas and within Qatar. Qatar also
established Education City, which consists of international colleges. For the 15 th Asian Games
in Doha, it established Doha Sports City, consisting of Khalifa stadium, the Aspire Sports
Academy, aquatic centres, exhibition centres and many other sports related buildings and
centres. Following the success of the Asian Games, Doha kicked off an official bid to host
the 2016 Summer Olympics in October 2007.[20] Qatar also plans to build an "entertainment
city" in the future.

Qatar aims to become a role model for economic and social transformation in the region.
Large scale investment in all social and economic sectors will also lead to the development of
a strong financial market.

The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) provides financial institutions with world class services in
investment, margin and no-interest loans, and capital support. These platforms are situated in
an economy founded on the development of its hydrocarbons resources, specifically its
exportation of petroleum. It has been created with a long term perspective to support the
development of Qatar and the wider region, develop local and regional markets, and
strengthen the links between the energy based economies and global financial markets.

Apart from Qatar itself, which needs to raise capital to finance projects of more than $130
billion, the QFC also provides a conduit for financial institutions to access nearly $1.0 trillion of
investments which stretch across the GCC (Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the
Gulf) as a whole over the next decade.

The new town of Lusail, the largest project ever in Qatar, is under construction.
Product