Page 86 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

70 Dubai & Co.

be expected to continue into the foreseeable future. Population
growth in GCC countries is particularly striking when compared
with the forecast of 40 percent growth in the United States for the
same period—less than half the amount of the four GCC countries
named above.

Figure 3.3 GCC countries have high birthrates and high expected
population growth (Source: Population Reference Bureau)

Equally striking is the number of births per woman: all GCC
countries have a higher fertility rate than the United States has. The
figure for Saudi Arabia—an astonishing 4.5 births per woman—is
more than twice that of the United States (2.0) and UAE (2.2).
The high Saudi birthrate is quite troubling when one considers the
country’s high unemployment and daunting social challenges. The
forecast of a 96 percent increase in the Saudi population by 2050
highlights the urgent need to create jobs—a need that the govern-
ment is keenly aware of.
The population of the GCC countries is, on average, quite
young. Roughly half of the GCC citizens are under 16 years old. 16
GCC citizens, the region’s most sought-after market, tend to have
significantly more children per family than expatriates. Parents in
the region tend to spend heavily on their children: according to a
2006 study, parents spend an average of $327 per year on toys and
video games—twice as much as their counterparts in Europe and