The population of Dubai is constantly growing due to the large number of foreigners who arrive in the emirate looking for work. And this may be the reason for a new staggering finding – 3 in 4 Dubai residents are male, according to official statistics.
The global sex ratio at birth is estimated at 107 boys to 100 girls in 2014. But factors such as emigration, war, and various cultural practices, shift the demographic image of a country.
Some nations, such as China and India, have a worsening gender imbalance, which reaches 67 girls for every 100 boys in some rural areas of China. The social problems created by this disproportion are many and will affect stability, crime levels and even economy, according to experts. The latest statistics for Dubai, however, are even more shocking. There are 313 men per 100 women in the emirate, which means nearly 80% of the population is male.
The data comes from the Dubai Statistics Centre, which gathered information on the number and gender of residents. The researchers found that 75.77% of the 2.2 million people living in the city are men. They explain the imbalance by a single, simple trend, observed in Dubai in the past decade or so – a huge part of the expatriates arriving in Dubai are men. They either come without their families to work (in construction usually) and earn money for several months or years, or they are simply young and still unmarried. As a result, the number of men is several times larger than the current number of females – a phenomenon, described by the researchers as “unnatural”.
Well, the gender ratio in Dubai is unbalanced and unusual, at least. Also, around two-thirds of the population is aged 20-39, making it probably the youngest city in the world. The demographic picture is further thwarted by the preliminary estimates of steady 5% population growth and the so-called “active individuals”. The researchers use the term for all residents and individuals employed in the public or private sector, as well as the tourists, temporary visitors, and all those arriving and departing from Dubai during the city. All these movement is estimated to result in a total of 3.2 million people.
But what does all this data mean? The experts haven’t commented on the findings in details, besides calling them “unnatural”. Although the circumstances in Dubai are very different from those in India and China, where the “girl problem” is getting out of control, some of the results may end up similar. Even though young, single men in Dubai have jobs and regular income, the large masses of single males, who also have no prospects of finding brides, have never led to happy ending.
This is bad news for the future of Dubai. Women and children build communities – Men lack the bonding capacity and tend to be more silo like in nature.
Since communities give a city its soul and develops culture, what this means is that Dubai may end up being a very robotic, soulless town.
Perhaps some of these men would like to bring their wives/children to Dubai with them? That should fix the problem and also boost the economy – since money is being spent locally instead of being sent home.