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Description Qatar by rbd.me
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Ruled by the al-Thani family since the mid-1800s, Qatar transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Qatari economy was crippled by a continuous siphoning off of petroleum revenues by the Amir, who had ruled the country since 1972. His son, the current Amir HAMAD bin Khalifa al-Thani, overthrew him in a bloodless coup in 1995. In 2001, Qatar resolved its longstanding border disputes with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. As of 2007, oil and natural gas revenues had enabled Qatar to attain the second-highest per capita income in the world.
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Location
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Middle East, peninsula bordering the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia
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Area - comparative
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slightly smaller than Connecticut
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Natural resources Qatar
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petroleum, natural gas, fish
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Population Qatar
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840,926 (July 2010 est.)
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Religions Qatar
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Muslim 77.5%, Christian 8.5%, other 14% (2004 census)
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Languages
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Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language
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Education Qatar expenditures
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3.3% of GDP (2005)
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Government Qatar type
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emirate
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Independence
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3 September 1971 (from the UK)
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Qatar Economy - overview
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Despite the global financial crisis, Qatar has maintained its economic growth of the last several years. Qatari authorities throughout the crisis sought to protect the local banking sector with direct investments into domestic banks. The drop in oil prices in late 2008 and the global financial crisis reduced Qatar's budget surplus and slowed the pace of investment and development projects in 2009, but GDP growth still registered more than 9% for the year and will likely rebound in 2010. Economic policy is focused on developing Qatar's nonassociated natural gas reserves and increasing private and foreign investment in non-energy sectors, but oil and gas still account for more than 50% of GDP, roughly 85% of export earnings, and 70% of government revenues. Oil and gas have made Qatar the second highest per-capita income country - following Liechtenstein - and the world's second fastest growing - following Macau. Proved oil reserves of 15 billion barrels should enable continued output at current levels for 37 years. Qatar's proved reserves of natural gas exceed 25 trillion cubic meters, about 14% of the world total and third largest in the world.
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Investment Qatar
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7.1% of GDP (2009 est.)
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Industries Qatar
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liquefied natural gas, crude oil production and refining, ammonia, fertilizers, petrochemicals, steel reinforcing bars, cement, commercial ship repair
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Airports Qatar
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722 (2009)
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