Gulf Population Estimated at 62.8 Million With 3.5 Percent Average Growth
The total population of the Gulf Cooperation Council states is estimated at 62.8 million in 2025, according to figures issued by the GCC Statistical Centre and carried by Qatar News Agency on 19 July 2026, with a follow-up analytical report on 27 July.
The distinction matters for how the number is read. The 2025 figure is an estimate; the most recent recorded count is 61.5 million for 2024. On that series the GCC population stood at 56.6 million in 2022 and 59.1 million in 2023 — an increase of 6.2 million people in three years, at an average annual growth rate of 3.5 percent.
That 3.5 percent is a three-year average rather than a current run rate, and the underlying pace has slowed. On the published rounded figures the year-on-year increases work out at approximately 4.4 percent in 2023, 4.1 percent in 2024 and 2.1 percent in 2025, which is an Edge calculation on the centre’s own numbers rather than a published rate. The direction of travel is the point: the Gulf is still growing several times faster than the world, which the World Bank Group puts at about 0.9 percent a year, but the gap is narrowing.
What gives the number its economic weight is the age structure beneath it. On the 2024 recorded data, the population aged between 15 and 34 numbers approximately 23.5 million, or 38.2 percent of the total. The working-age band from 15 to 64 accounts for 76.7 percent, children under 15 for 20.6 percent, and those aged 65 and above for 2.6 percent.
GCC population, GCC Statistical Centre
| Year | Total population | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 56.6 million | — |
| 2023 | 59.1 million | Approximately 4.4 percent |
| 2024 | 61.5 million | Approximately 4.1 percent |
| 2025, estimated | 62.8 million | Approximately 2.1 percent |
| Increase, 2022 to 2025 | 6.2 million | Approximately 11 percent cumulative |
| Average annual growth, 2022 to 2025 | 3.5 percent | Published rate |
Structure and density, 2024 recorded data
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Aged 15 to 34 | Approximately 23.5 million, 38.2 percent |
| Working age, 15 to 64 | 76.7 percent |
| Children under 15 | 20.6 percent |
| Aged 65 and above | 2.6 percent |
| Total dependency ratio | 30.4 per 100 working-age, being 27.0 children and 3.4 older persons |
| Sex ratio | 168 males per 100 females |
| Population density | Approximately 25.5 people per square kilometre |
| Share of world population | Approximately 0.8 percent |
| Projected population, 2050 | Approximately 83.6 million, an increase of about 33.6 percent on 2025 |
Figures issued by the GCC Statistical Centre and carried by Qatar News Agency, 19 and 27 July 2026. Year-on-year change and the cumulative figure are Edge calculations on the published rounded totals; the 3.5 percent average and the 33.6 percent 2050 increase are as published. Commentary attributed to Ibrahim Hamad Al Mohannadi, Director of the Social and Environmental Statistics Department at Qatar’s National Statistics Center, in the report of 27 July 2026. World growth comparison from the World Bank Group.
A dependency ratio few economies can match
A total dependency ratio of 30.4 per 100 working-age people, of which only 3.4 relates to older persons, is among the most favourable in the world. In the largest European economies and in Japan, populations aged 65 and above range from roughly a fifth to nearly a third of the total, and the fiscal arithmetic of pensions and healthcare follows directly from that. The Gulf’s position is close to the mirror image, though the comparison is not like for like: a large expatriate workforce that arrives at working age and departs before retirement flatters the ratio in a way that a settled population would not.
That qualification is the substance of the story rather than a footnote to it. A favourable age structure is an opportunity rather than an outcome. A cohort of 23.5 million people aged 15 to 34 converts into growth only through employment, skills and productivity. That is why the labour-market and education components of the national visions across the GCC — Kuwait’s New Kuwait 2035, Saudi Vision 2030, UAE Centennial 2071, Qatar National Vision 2030, Oman Vision 2040 and Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030 — are framed around absorption capacity rather than headcount.
The sex ratio of 168 males per 100 females and the child share of 20.6 percent point the same way. Both are consistent with a population whose growth is driven substantially by expatriate labour inflows tied to project cycles, which means the 3.5 percent average is partly an investment indicator as well as a demographic one, and is partly reversible if capital spending slows. The deceleration to approximately 2.1 percent in 2025 is the first visible test of that.
The long view to 2050
The GCC Statistical Centre projects the population at approximately 83.6 million by 2050, an increase of about 33.6 percent on the 2025 estimate. Spread over twenty-five years that implies average annual growth of roughly 1.2 percent on our calculation — a third of the recent average, and much closer to the global rate. Two consequences follow. The first is that the demographic dividend has a defined window rather than an open one, and the old-age dependency component, currently 3.4, is expected to rise gradually as the resident population matures. The second is that the region’s infrastructure, housing, education and healthcare planning is being sized against a population a third larger than today’s, which is a materially different capital-programme baseline from the one implied by the current headcount.
Why it matters: For Kuwait and the wider GCC these numbers are the demand side of every domestic investment thesis. A market of 62.8 million growing at 3.5 percent a year on average, weighted heavily towards ages 15 to 34, is the base case for retail banking, telecommunications, housing, education, healthcare and consumer sectors across the region, and it is part of why regional consumer businesses have been able to grow volume in years when oil revenues were flat. It is also the case GCC institutions make to international partners: a young, expanding, high-income domestic market is a materially different proposition from an ageing one, and it sits behind the recent run of international financial and industrial firms establishing regional presences. The 2025 deceleration is the number to keep in view alongside the headline.
Outlook: Four things to watch. First, whether the 2026 print confirms the slowdown to around 2 percent or restores the earlier pace as project pipelines mature. Second, the national-versus-expatriate split, which determines how much of the growth is structural. Third, labour-force participation among the 15 to 34 cohort, which is where a demographic advantage becomes an economic one. Fourth, the GCC Statistical Centre’s next full release, which should carry updated age-structure data against the 2024 base used here.
Sources: GCC Statistical Centre figures carried by Qatar News Agency, 19 and 27 July 2026; World Bank Group.
