The Numbers That Define Qatar
Statistics, properly contextualised, reveal the structural realities that narrative alone cannot capture. The following data snapshot presents Qatar’s essential metrics as of 2025, organized across the domains that matter most for understanding the country’s development trajectory and Vision 2030 progress.
Economy
Nominal GDP: Approximately $220-$240 billion, fluctuating with LNG and condensate prices. Qatar’s economy is the wealthiest in the Gulf on a per capita basis and among the smallest in absolute terms, reflecting the tension between resource intensity and population size.
GDP Per Capita (PPP): Approximately $85,000-$95,000, consistently ranking among the top three globally. The figure reflects hydrocarbon revenue concentration more than typical resident prosperity.
Hydrocarbon Revenue Share: Estimated at 60-70% of total government revenue, depending on the price environment. Despite eighteen years of diversification policy, hydrocarbons remain the fiscal foundation.
Sovereign Wealth: The Qatar Investment Authority manages assets estimated in excess of $475 billion, making it one of the ten largest sovereign wealth funds globally. The portfolio spans real estate, financial services, technology, infrastructure, and industrial assets across six continents.
Currency: Qatari Riyal (QAR), pegged to the US dollar at a fixed rate of QAR 3.64 per USD since 2001.
Credit Rating: Investment-grade ratings from all major agencies (Aa3/Moody’s, AA/Fitch, AA/S&P as of late 2024), reflecting fiscal strength, sovereign wealth buffers, and manageable debt levels.
Energy
LNG Production Capacity: 77 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), the world’s largest as of 2025. The North Field Expansion will increase capacity to 126 mtpa by approximately 2028.
North Field Reserves: Estimated at 1,760 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, plus approximately 50 billion barrels of condensate. The field, shared with Iran’s South Pars, is the largest non-associated gas reservoir on Earth.
North Field Expansion Investment: In excess of $50 billion across both NFE and NFS phases, the largest LNG project under construction globally.
LNG Export Destinations: Major buyers include Japan, South Korea, China, India, the United Kingdom, and continental European utilities. China has become the fastest-growing destination, anchored by a 27-year supply contract with Sinopec.
Helium Production: Qatar is the world’s second-largest helium producer, extracting the gas as a byproduct of North Field processing.
Demographics
Total Resident Population: Approximately 2.9 million.
Qatari National Population: Approximately 380,000, or roughly 13% of total residents.
Expatriate Share: Approximately 87% of the total resident population, one of the highest ratios of any sovereign state.
Top Expatriate Nationalities: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Philippines, Egypt, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan collectively account for the majority of the expatriate population.
Gender Ratio: Approximately 3:1 male to female among total residents, driven by the concentration of male workers in construction and industrial sectors. Among Qatari nationals, the ratio is approximately balanced.
Urbanisation Rate: Effectively 100%. The vast majority of the population resides in the Doha metropolitan area, with secondary concentration in Al Wakrah, Al Khor, and Lusail.
Infrastructure
Doha Metro: Three operational lines covering over 75 kilometres, with 37 stations. The system, opened in 2019, serves the central Doha area, Education City, Lusail, and Hamad International Airport.
Hamad International Airport: Consistently ranked among the world’s top airports. Passenger capacity exceeds 50 million per annum following expansion. Home base of Qatar Airways.
Hamad Port: Qatar’s deep-water commercial port, fully operational since 2017. Container capacity of approximately 7.5 million TEU, serving as the country’s primary maritime gateway and reducing dependence on regional transhipment.
World Cup Stadiums: Eight venues constructed for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with capacities ranging from 40,000 to 80,000. Post-tournament repurposing includes community sports facilities, entertainment venues, and mixed-use development.
Education and Research
Education City Universities: Six international branch campuses (Virginia Commonwealth, Weill Cornell, Texas A&M, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, Northwestern) plus Qatar Foundation research institutes.
University of Qatar: The national university, with approximately 20,000 enrolled students across nine colleges.
Research Output: Qatar ranks among the highest globally for per capita research publication output, driven by Qatar Foundation-funded research programmes.
Qatar Foundation Investment: Estimated at over $35 billion since inception in education, research, healthcare, and community development infrastructure.
Security and Geopolitics
Al Udeid Air Base: The largest US military installation in the Middle East, hosting approximately 10,000 US and coalition personnel. Forward headquarters of CENTCOM and the Combined Air Operations Center.
Turkish Military Presence: The Tariq ibn Ziyad base hosts an estimated 3,000-5,000 Turkish military personnel under a bilateral defence agreement.
Defence Procurement: Qatar has committed in excess of $25 billion in US defence contracts since 2017, including F-15QA fighter aircraft, Apache helicopters, and Patriot missile defence systems.
Context for the Numbers
These figures describe a state of extraordinary concentrated wealth, structural demographic imbalance, and profound resource dependence. They also describe a state that has invested that wealth in world-class infrastructure, education, and institutional development at a pace and scale that few countries of any size have matched. The numbers alone do not tell Qatar’s story. But they provide the empirical foundation upon which any serious assessment of Qatar National Vision 2030 must be built.