Uneducated migrant workers are downgrading Qatar’s international image by impacting its score in the United Nations’ human development index (HDI), according to a report published in an international journal.
Qatar would rank as among the top developed countries in the world, alongside Norway, if its significant migrant population, estimated at between 70-80 percent of all workers, was eliminated from the country’s HDI, the analysis published in UK-based journal Perspectives in Public Health said.
Migrant workers make up a significant proportion of the population in most GCC states.
The study found the impact of migrant workers on the HDI was most stark in Qatar, which currently ranks 37th on the global list.
“…migrant guest worker status distorts the overall HDI ranking because it has a measurable negative impact on the educational component,” the study by Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar found.
“…there are 14 countries with more than 30 percent of migrant guest workers whose ranking is significantly impacted by the high proportion of migrant guest workers. The current HDI ranking of any country with a high proportion of migrant workers in the population should be interpreted cautiously.
“Qatar, the member of the very high development group with the largest number of guest workers, represents an extreme example. It has a current HDI ranking of 0.831, placing it 37th in the UN list.
“If the current educational ranking of 0.623 was replaced with 0.889, the average for all very high HDI countries with <30 percent migrant workers, Qatar’s overall HDI would increase to 0.936, and the country would then rank near Norway at the top of the UN HDI list.”
The HDI was established in 1990 to measure the overall wellbeing of a nation and is often used as a means of comparing countries, particularly for the wellbeing of residents.
It is calculated based on the health (life expectancy at birth), wealth (gross national income per capita ) and education (schooling years for adults and expected school years for children) of all residents.
The researchers found only the education component affected the HDI of countries with high migrant populations.
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