Muscat, Sept 25 - The capital’s population has declined by 0.43 per cent by the end of August 2018 as it continues to host more expatriates (922,309) against 546,362 Omanis.
Only 37.2 per cent of the registered population in Muscat are Omanis.
It may be noted that the total number of expatriate population in Oman decreased by 26,337 in one month by end of August 2018, compared to the end July 2018.
Figures from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) revealed that Muscat has a population of 1.46 million and it is one of the two governorates where expatriates outnumber the Omanis.
In Dhofar, expatriates (234,104) marginally outnumber the Omanis (218,138) in population.
The total population of the Dhofar governorate stands at 453.242 by the end of August 2018, a decline of 1.48 per cent compared to same period a year ago.
Omanis outnumber the expatriates in all other governorates, including North Batinah with 507,075 citizens against 270,149 expatriates and South Batinah with 308,842 citizens against 120,367 expatriates by the end of August 2018.
Both these governorates saw a marginal increase in the number of population by 1.27 and 1.33 per cent, respectively.
Musandam with (44,870) and Al Wusta with (48,006) are the least populated governorates in the country.
Among the major bigger governorates, Al Dakhiliyah has seen the biggest growth rate of two per cent in population by the end of August 2018, compared to the same period a year ago.
Nationality wise there has been a drop of 6.1 per cent in the number of Pakistan expatriates, followed by Bangladesh nationals at 4.6 per cent and Indian nationals at 3.7 per cent.
Expatriates in the private sector dropped 4.1 while in the government sector it dropped 2.6 per cent.
The construction sector has seen the major decline by 8.5 per cent to 581,142 by August 2018.
Going with the trend, the number of private vehicles registered in Oman declined by 45.6 per cent at the end of August 2018, compared to same period a year ago.
The number of new private vehicles registered in August 2018 were 3,041, while in July 2018 it was 4,983 and 5,390 in June.
Vinod Nair
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
