How many people live in Qatar right now?
Right now, according to UN estimates
3,188,482
| Today | In 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Births | · | · |
| Deaths | · | · |
| Net migration | · | · |
| Growth | · | · |
2026 figures
- Rank by population
- 136 of 237
- Share of world population
- 0.04%
- Median age
- 33.4 years
- Children per woman
- 1.69
- Life expectancy
- 82.8 years
- People per km²
- 274
According to UN estimates, about 3.2 million people live in Qatar right now. It ranks 136th out of 237 countries and territories by population, between Puerto Rico and Namibia, and it is home to 0.038% of the world's population.
Every day, about 80 people are born there and about 9 die. More people arrive than leave: net migration adds about 24,800 people a year. Overall, the population grows by about 140 people a day (1.65% a year).
In 1950, about 24,283 people lived there. Today there are 131 times as many. The UN expects it to keep growing for the rest of the century. By 2050 it is projected to have about 4.2 million people (31% more than today), and by 2100 about 7.3 million.
Half of its people are younger than 33 (worldwide, 31). Women have an average of 1.69 children each, below the 2.1 needed for each generation to replace the one before, and life expectancy at birth is 83 years (worldwide, 74). There are 274 people per square kilometer.
UN estimates up to today and projections (medium variant) from today onward.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the population of Qatar in 2026?
- Qatar has about 3.2 million people right now, according to the UN's World Population Prospects 2024. On July 1, 2026, there were 3,173,559.
- How many people are born each day in Qatar?
- About 80 a day (30,800 a year). About 9 people die each day (3,300 a year).
- Is the population of Qatar growing?
- Yes: it grows by 1.65% a year, or about 52,400 people.
- What will the population of Qatar be in 2050?
- According to the UN projection (medium variant), about 4.2 million.
- Why doesn't this figure match the country's official statistics?
- The UN estimates the population of every country with the same method, based on censuses, surveys and registers, and projects it year by year. Each national statistics office uses its own censuses and registers, which may be more up to date or count foreign residents differently. That is why the figures can differ slightly.
Countries with a similar population
- Mongolia 3,568,914
- Uruguay 3,381,809
- Puerto Rico 3,217,426
- Namibia 3,172,021
- Bosnia and Herzegovina 3,105,936
- Moldova 2,952,079
More countries in Asia
- India 1,480,585,662
- China 1,411,888,754
- Indonesia 288,550,190
- Pakistan 260,627,801
- Bangladesh 178,484,330
- Japan 122,207,049
- Philippines 118,018,854
- Vietnam 102,351,304
- Iran 93,380,236
- Turkey 88,012,259
- Thailand 71,536,973
- Myanmar 55,285,236
All countries and territories →
Where these figures come from
The figures are estimates from the United Nations Population Division, published in World Population Prospects 2024 (medium variant): the reference used by international organizations and by most population counters. The UN estimates how many people there are on July 1 of each year and how many are born, die and migrate; between one date and the next, this counter spreads the change continuously, second by second.
It is not a real-time headcount: nobody can count every person in a country at once. It is the best available estimate, and it may differ slightly from the figures of each country's statistics office, which use their own censuses and population registers.