Qatar’s population saw a 13.2 percent increase in the past year, according to official data, as the country recruits overseas workers ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
The country, which is one of the world’s largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas, currently has a population of 2.94 million, after at least 370,000 people moved to Qatar over the last year.
While low-income migrant workers and other foreigners take up most of the country’s population, nationals stood at 380,000, the data showed.
Yet, World Cup organisers are currently looking to manage personnel shortage ahead of the tournament, which is expected to bring an influx of 1.2 million fans.
Additionally, the World Cup is also “expected to put pressure on its infrastructure, hospitality and security sector,” according to Reuters.
“Hotel operator Accor is recruiting 12,000 temporary overseas employees to operate 65,000 rooms in apartments and homes serving as temporary fan housing. Qatar has an agreement with Turkey to provide more than 3,000 riot police and Pakistan has also agreed to deploy troops to Qatar during the tournament,” Reuters said.
Ahead of the World Cup, which is set to begin from November 20, Qatar has also built expressways, seven sustainable soccer stadiums, hotels and skyscrapers – all of which showed a total spending of at least $229 billion on infrastructure, according to budget documents.
“Around half of Qatar’s population is employed in the construction industry. In the years after the tournament, Qatar’s population is expected to decline by about 1.2 percent year-on-year and shrink to 2.5 million by 2027, the International Monetary Fund forecasts,” Reuters added.
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