Abu Dhabi: With the 50th UAE National Day right around the corner, the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC) has revealed some interesting facts and figures to take a look back at the past to evaluate how much the country has grown across the key sectors over the last 50 years.
The FCSC report provides greater insights into the UAE’s progress in verticals such as infrastructure, women, population, healthcare, education, labor, food and water security, and telecommunication.
POPULATION
The UAE Population in the year 1975 was recorded to be at 548,295 including 19,798 newborns compared to 9,282,410 in 2020, including 97,572 newborns.
HEALTHCARE
While the country had only 15 Public and 1 Private Hospital (16 Hospitals in Total) in 1975, the number grew by 981 percent over the years to 56 Public and 117 Private Hospitals (173 Hospitals) in 2020.
Meanwhile, number of caregivers including physicians, dentists and nurses grew enormously, increasing from 2,359 in 1985 to 26,106 in 2020.
EDUCATION
The FCSC report states that the country had only 227 schools in 1975. This number reached 2,670 by 2020 at a growth rate of 1,076 percent. The UAE has 134 higher education institutions as of now.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The total length of paved and unpaved roads across the country was estimated at 83,476 KMS in 2020.
The country currently has 12 commercial seaports, (excluding those handling oil tankers) with a berth capacity of 310 supporting a total loading capacity of 80 million tons. Seaports in the UAE handle around 60 percent of containers and goods that are exported to the GCC. Around 20,000 companies and institutions operate in the UAE, making it the largest sea hub in the region.
WOMEN
Considered as a beacon of Women Empowerment and Representation, the UAE has 50 percent women as Federal National Council members. Meanwhile, 60 percent of the members in the Emirates Youth Council and the Local Youth Councils, and 24 percent of the members in the board of directors of federal and local authorities are women.
LABOUR
In 1975, the number of people working in the country was 288,000, compared to 6,886,484 in 2020. Total number of people working in the private sector in 2020 was recorded at 4,792,972, compared to 160,670 in 1975.
FOOD AND WATER SECURITY
The number of livestock (including cattle, sheep, goats, camels) in the country grew from 327,000 in 1976 to 5.1 million in 2020.
Meanwhile, the volume of agricultural production (including crops, fruits and vegetables) also witnessed incredible growth reaching 1.2 million tons in 2020, up from 103,000 tons in 1977.
The value of the production stood at $1.12 billion in 2020, up by 2,555 percent from 1977 when it was at $41.93 million.
TELECOMMUNICATION:
The year 2020 recorded close to 2,380,000 landline subscriptions in the country, up from 26,200 lines in 1975. Mobile phone subscriptions, on the other hand, rose from 13,711 in 1987 to 18,374,332 in 2020.
Internet subscriptions grew from 1.2 million in 2008 to over 3.2 million in 2020.
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