10,000 new residents arrive in Dubai per month

Dubai continues to add more than 10,000 residents per month, with population crossing the 1.8 million-mark in the first quarter of 2010, Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC) website data showed yesterday.

Population in the emirate has grown to more than 1,801,000 residents, up from 1,676,000 at the end of Q1 2009, indicating a growth of 7.5 per cent or 125,000 residents in the past 12 months.

The population has gone up by more than 30,300 residents, or 1.7 per cent, in the first quarter of this year compared with the 1.77 million recorded at the end of 2009.

This latest data is in stark contrast with earlier estimates by external agencies that Dubai's population would shrink as the emirate's real estate and construction sectors suffered a slowdown.

Some analysts now maintain that the increasing affordability and availability of residential accommodation in the emirate has meant that Dubai's population has continued to swell.

During the average working day, the active population swells by 50 per cent when the number of tourists, sailors and workers in government as well as private sector residing outside Dubai is taken into consideration.

Active population in Dubai during the day at the end of 2009 averaged 2,638,778.

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