Oman population registers growth; over 1.4m live in Muscat

Muscat: The population of Oman hit 4,671,927 till the end of 2019, according to an NCSI (National Center for Statistics and Information) bulletin released on Sunday. The number of Omani citizens stood at 2,655,144; 1.34 million of which are males and 1.32 are females. The number of expatriates stood at 1,962,783. As per the bulletin, the annual change in Omani population during the period (2014- 2019) was 3.5 per cent and 2.7 per cent expats. The distribution of population pyramid of Omanis by gender in 2019 was almost equal, as the percentage of males 50.4 per cent and females 49.6 per cent. The youth and children (less than 29 years old) represent the largest segment of Omanis, with about two-thirds of the Omani population (64per cent) and children (younger than 5 years old) represent the largest segment (15 per cent). Omanis formed up to 57.5 per cent of the total population in 2019, of which Omani females constitute 29 per cent. The male-female sex ratio of the Omani population is 101: 100 and the median age of Omanis is 22 years. Moreover, the average age of Omanis in Muscat and Musanddam governorates increased to 25 years, followed by Dhofar Governorate 24 years. The average age of Omanis decreased to reach 20 years in Al Wusta and Ash Sharqiyah North . Muscat Governorate has the highest population density among the governorates of the Sultanate as there are 355 persons every 1km. The number of population in Muscat alone amounted to 1,421,409 million; 560,011 of which are Omanis and 861,398 expats. Al Wusta, however, has the least density, as there is one every 1km. On the other hand, the number of the expat males stood at 1.61 million (34.8 per cent out of the total population and about 82 per cent of the total expatriates in 2019). The average age of expatriates across the Sultanate’s governorates is almost similar (35) years. The highest four male nationalities in the Sultanate as of mid-2019 are Bangladeshi (623,961), Indian (616,857), Pakistani (221,538) and Egyptian (35,007). This make 38.8per cent of the male expats in the Sultanate from the Bangladeshi nationality. However, Egyptian males make the largest number of Arab expat in the country. The highest four female nationalities in the Sultanate as of mid-2019 are Ugandan (26,487), Sri Lankan (17,265), Tanzanian (14,098), and Nigerian (729). The bulletin also pointed that expatriates in the working age (15- 64) years constitute the largest share of expatriates with (95 per cent) compared to (5 per cent) only for the rest of the segments. The elderly of them (65 years and over) are only (0.64 per cent) in 2019 while the age group (25 -34) years constitute (43 per cent).