Social conditions
Due to extensive oil exports and the small population, the United Arab Emirates has one of the world’s highest GDP per capita, which has allowed large investments in education and healthcare in particular. Visit AbbreviationFinder to see the definitions of UAE and acronym for United Arab Emirates. The general health of the population has improved as the country is modernized. Everyone today has access to clean drinking water and sewage, which has reduced the incidence of infectious diseases. Illiteracy is about to be eradicated. Today, lifestyle diseases, and in particular diabetes, are the most serious threat to public health in the United Arab Emirates.
Specialized healthcare has developed into a significant industry in the country, and it attracts an annual growing number of patients from abroad. These come primarily from neighboring countries such as Kuwait and Oman, but also from countries in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world.
The situation for guest workers has been a tough issue. The United Arab Emirates has received widespread criticism from, among other things, Human Rights Watch due to poor and often risky working conditions for guest workers. Since large groups of Asian workers have gone on strike for unpaid wages and poor working conditions, several improvements have been formally decided, including agreements to be concluded and regulated and better housing and health care to be offered.
Population, society and rights
The economic and construction boom of the last thirty years has attracted a volume of foreign labor such as to have almost quintupled the population of the UAE: although there are no precise data on the number of regular and irregular immigrants, it is estimated that they constitute four fifths of the total population. and that make up almost the entire workforce. Check to see United Arab Emirates population.
The majority of foreigners are Muslim and come from the countries of the Middle East region (in particular Egypt, Palestine and Iran) and from South and East Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines). In recent years, the community of Westerners has also grown, usually based in Dubai. This is a remarkable phenomenon, which traveled at an average growth rate of 6.3% per year, among the highest in the world, and which mainly affected Dubai, which in 2008 became the most populous of the seven emirates, surpassing the same Abu Dhabi. Such a picture, so varied and unbalanced in its ethnic composition, today raises various concerns, both for the heavy reduction in the share of Emirati citizens, and for the progressive growth of immigrants’ claims. politically more and more committed to the improvement of working conditions. Despite the absence, both at the federal level and in the institutions of the individual federated states, of parties and of an organized political opposition, the UAE stands as one of the most virtuous countries in the Middle East region for respect for religious freedom and gender equality. Such a degree of openness is also found in the field of education, where the public school sector, which represents the first chapter of the federal budget, guarantees free access only to citizens. Private education, on the other hand, offers the possibility of choosing programs based on those of the countries of origin of the main ethnic groups present in the country.
In the face of these positive data, the UAE cannot however be considered a free country for civil and political rights. There is no democratic electoral system and there is no provision for the presence of political parties; the media are subjected to strict censorship which does not allow effective freedom of expression. There are hefty fines for journalists found guilty of offending the royal family or members of the government.