Page 75 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

Think Again: Addressing Misconceptions about the GCC 59

One basic—and reasonable—assumption one might make
about the GCC is that these markets are entirely Arab. The Gulf
states are, after all, countries on the Arabian Peninsula with Arabic
as their official language and ruled by Arab leaders. Public figures
and most corporate CEOs are, of course, local Arabs. The local Arab
community is squarely in control of political affairs and key strate-
gic industries, controlling all the public sector assets, comprising
most of the government workforce, and holding the lion’s share of
private wealth. From many perspectives, the locals are the region’s
core constituency.
A closer look at the GCC’s demographics, however, reveals
figures that may surprise the outside observer. As illustrated in
Figure 2.6, half the GCC countries have more expatriates than
locals—and one-third of the region’s total population is foreign.

Figure 2.6 Half the GCC states are majority expatriate (Source: GCC
government data and CIA World Factbook, 2006)