Facts about Dubai and the United Arab Emirates

Dubai is one of seven emirates which together form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The other emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Oaiwain. The different emirates enjoy a high degree of independence.

Oil was during 1958 discovered in Abu Dhabi, in Dubai it was found barely ten years later and in Sharja, 1974. The oil incomes transformed the underdeveloped emirates to modern societies in class with western states degrees. (Besides from the democracy).

From mainly been living on farming, housing care, fishing and building of boats, the habitants of the emirates, can today enjoy a high living standard, modern infrastructure and a well developed business world.

Demography

UAE has about 4,4-4,7 million habitants (depending on source) of which ca 70 percent in the ages of 15-64 are not emirates. The increase of population for the year of 2007 is close to 4000 percent, inclusive the large amounts of guest employees who live and work in Dubai. The increase of population in emirates is about 2 percent.

Geography

UAE is placed in Southwest-Asia and border on the Oman bay and the Persian bay, between Oman and Saudi Arabia. UAE has a flat and bare coast which leads in to the sand dunes in a large desert landscape, with mountains in the east. The desert covers more than 90 percent of the country.

The country has a strategic position along the southern Hormuz sound, a sound between Iran and Musandam peninsula (belonging to Oman and UAE) in the Arabic peninsulas north coast. The sound binds the Persian bay with the Oman bay and the Arabic sea. The position is very strategically important, because the one that controls the sound is controlling the larger part of the oil flow from the Middle East.