Most people you would have met in Abu Dhabi 50 years ago were of the same culture: the same language, Arabic, the same religion, Islam, and the same traditions such as camel racing & falconry.
This culture still exists but there are now many people from different cultures, with diverse first languages, religions & traditions.
We can say, then, that the UAE, over the past 50 or so, has become more culturally diverse. It is more cosmopolitan, in the way that cities like London & New York have been for centuries.
The table in the previous post illustrates this diversity. My reflection on the figures is twofold:
(a) The website figures are from the year 2000 and are based on a total population of around 4.5M. This figure will probably be much higher today, partly because of the high birth rate among Arab families. Some recent estimates are over 7M. The US State Department reckons over 8M.
(b) The % figure for Filipinos, 3.4%, is probably now much higher. Most of the workforce in new shopping malls & hotels, many built over the past 10 years, seems to be Filipino. As a corollary, the % of Christians could also be much higher now.
This culture still exists but there are now many people from different cultures, with diverse first languages, religions & traditions.
We can say, then, that the UAE, over the past 50 or so, has become more culturally diverse. It is more cosmopolitan, in the way that cities like London & New York have been for centuries.
The table in the previous post illustrates this diversity. My reflection on the figures is twofold:
(a) The website figures are from the year 2000 and are based on a total population of around 4.5M. This figure will probably be much higher today, partly because of the high birth rate among Arab families. Some recent estimates are over 7M. The US State Department reckons over 8M.
(b) The % figure for Filipinos, 3.4%, is probably now much higher. Most of the workforce in new shopping malls & hotels, many built over the past 10 years, seems to be Filipino. As a corollary, the % of Christians could also be much higher now.
No comments:
Post a Comment