Politics
Qatar is an absolute monarchy that has been owned by the Thani family since its inception. Since June 2013, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani is the emir. In response to pro-Iran remarks by the emir, five Arab countries cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar in early June 2017: Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. They gave the reason that Qatar is destabilizing the region by supporting terrorists such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. In 2014, the four Gulf states already recalled their ambassador from Qatar, but no other measures were taken.
Administrative division
According to clothingexpress, Qatar was divided into 10 municipalities (Arabic: baladiyah), sometimes translated as provinces.
- Ad Dawhah(Doha) الدوحة
- Al Ghuwariyahالغويرية
- Al Jumaliyahالجميلية
- Al Khawrالخور
- Al Wakrahالوكرة
- Ar Rayyanالريان
- Jaryan al Batnahجريان الباطنة
- Ash Shamalالشمال
- Umm Salalأم صلال
- Mesaeedمسيعيد
The current municipal division is:
- al-Samal
- al-Khawr
- Umm salal
- al-Dayyan
- al-Rayyan
- ad Dawhah(Doha)
- al-Wakra
Economy
The country’s currency is the Qatari Rial (QR), which is subdivided into 100 dirhams. The country’s central bank keeps the exchange rate with the dollar constant at 3.65 rials per dollar.
At the end of 2020, Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) was US$144 billion. The level of GDP is closely related to the development of oil and gas prices on the world market. The main export destinations in 2019 were Japan, South Korea and India. Most goods are imported from the United States.
| Year | GDP (× QR billion) |
GDP per capita (× QR) |
Oil production (× 1000 vpd) |
Gas production (× billions of m³) |
| 1980 | 28.6 | 117.020 | 476 | 4.7 |
| 1985 | 22.8 | 66,253 | 315 | 5.5 |
| 1990 | 26.8 | 56,225 | 434 | 6.3 |
| 1995 | 29.6 | 59.108 | 461 | 13.5 |
| 2000 | 64.6 | 108,888 | 851 | 25.8 |
| 2005 | 162.5 | 197,863 | 1148 | 47.4 |
| 2010 | 435.7 | 254,058 | 1630 | 123.1 |
| 2015 | 588.7 | 241,503 | 1805 | 175.9 |
| 2020 | 525.7 | 195,824 | 1714 | 174.9 |
Since 1949, the country has exported petroleum, to which it owes its great wealth. The Dukhan oil field in the west of the country was the first to be developed and is still in production. In 1961, the country became a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but has decided to leave OPEC on January 1, 2019. The country had oil reserves of 25.2 billion barrels in 2020, enough to sustain the current production level of 1.8 million barrels per day for another 38 years. Qatar also has a very large natural gas reserve of 24,700 billion m³, about 13% of the world’s gas reserves. AfterRussia and Iran, Qatar has the largest gas reserves. Production has increased sharply since the beginning of the 21st century from about 25 billion m³ per year in 2000 to 175 billion m³ in 2020. The export of natural gas, especially in the form of LNG, by companies such as Qatargas and RasGas, has recently increased sharply as a result. In 2009 the export value of oil and natural gas was still about the same, but in 2011 the yield of the gas was already about 60% higher than that of oil.
In 2014, the country produced 220 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe), of which 35% oil and 65% gas. That was much more than necessary for the energy supply; the TPES (total primary energy supply) was 44 Mtoe. The country exported 174 Mtoe of fossil fuel. About 27 Mtoe of the energy was lost during conversion in the energy industry. 5 Mtoe was used for non-energy products such as lubricants, asphalt and petrochemicals. 13.5 Mtoe remained for end users, of which 2.9 Mtoe was electricity. Total carbon dioxide emissions were 78 megatons, which is 36 tons per person. The world average is 4.5 tons per person.
The oil and gas extraction triggered a strong immigration and determine the image of the current society of Qatar. The largest part of the working population is employed in the construction sector and services are an important employer for women.
Government revenues are also closely linked to energy activities and oil price developments. Thanks to the large revenues from energy, the government has a budget surplus. In 2011, the budget surplus was QR 56 billion, which is equivalent to 9% of the gross national product. The country’s sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority, is among the top 10 largest funds globally by assets under management.
Transportation
Doha International Airport is the only civilian airport in the country and is located near the capital Doha. The airport is the hub of the national carrier Qatar Airways and is widely used by transit passengers traveling from Europe to Asia.
There are advanced plans for the introduction of a national and international rail network. A domestic network with a total length of more than 500 kilometers is being worked on for Qatar. For the international project, the country is cooperating with the Gulf Railway Cooperation Council of the Arab States.
The port of Mesaieed is located about 50 kilometers south of the capital. Since 1949, this has been an important port for oil exports and was Qatar’s only deep -sea port until the 1970s. In the northeast of Qatar is Ras Laffan, a modern and large industrial complex for processing natural gas into LNG and light oil products. The products are shipped through the port of Ras Laffan, the largest LNG export port in the world.
