Qatar's population reached a record 2.35 million in February, boosted by new foreign workers needed for the massive investment linked to the Gulf state hosting the 2022 football World Cup, figures showed Wednesday. Just 10 years ago, less than one million people lived in Qatar, and the need for even more workers means the tiny country will break even this new record in the very near future, the Qatar National Bank said.
Put in context, growth from a year ago was a whopping 9.5 per cent, according to figures contained in the QNB's "Monthly Monitor."
"Qatar's rapid population growth is a result of the large influx of expatriate workers that are being hired to implement the infrastructure programme," the bank said.
That was a reference to a $200-billion (183.4 billion euros) spending splurge by the energy-rich state ahead of the World Cup. The number of people living in Qatar is predicted to rise by seven percent by the end of 2015. The government has made it clear it needs to recruit more people to fund its rapid expansion.
Earlier this year, a senior member of the royal family, Sheikh Nasser bin Abdulrahman bin Nasser al-Thani, said the number of workers would reach "2.5 million within three to five years".
Currently, it is estimated that there are between 700,000 and one million migrant workers in Qatar.
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