United Arab Emirates Population, Main Cities and Geography

By | January 27, 2023

United Arab Emirates: population, cities

Population

Population

According to Countryaah website, the United Arab Emirates have around 7.3 million residents, well over 80% of them are foreigners.

The individual emirates account for:

  • Emirate of Abu Dhabi with about 2.3 million residents
  • Emirate of Dubai with about 3.1 million residents
  • Emirate of Sharjah with about 1.3 million residents
  • Emirate of Ajman with about 250,000 residents
  • Emirate of Umm al-Quaiwain with about 75,000 residents
  • Emirate of Ra`s al-Khaimah with about 265,000 residents
  • Emirate of Fujairah with about 100,000 residents

Because of their great wealth, the Emirates have brought numerous guest workers into the country. These are mainly Indians, Egyptians, Bangladeshis, Pakistani and Filipinos. Europeans and Americans are also brought into the country for a number of management tasks.

Ethnic composition

Only around 20% Arabs and around 80% guest workers live in the United Arab Emirates.

Religion

Islam is the state religion in the United Arab Emirates.

National languages

Arabic is spoken in the United Arab Emirates. English is the language of business.

Capital/cities

The capital of the United Arab Emirates is Abu Dhabi with around 1,200,000 residents. According to Abbreviation Finder, UAE stands for United Arab Emirates in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

Other larger cities are:

  • Dubai city with around 1,800,000 residents
  • Sharjah city with around 435,000 residents
  • Ajman city with around 130,000 residents
  • Ras al-Khaimah city with around 150,000 residents
  • Fujairah city with around 80,000 residents
  • Umm al-Quain city with around 24,000 residents

United Arab Emirates: geography

The United Arab Emirates are located on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of United Arab Emirates. They are bounded to the west and north by the Persian Gulf and to the south by Saudi Arabia, to the east by Oman and to the north-east by the Gulf of Oman. In the far north-east there is an exclave of the state of Oman on the Strait of Hormuz. As already shown in the short version, the United Arab Emirates includes the following countries:

  • Abu Dhabi
  • Dubai
  • Sharjah
  • Ras al-Khaimah
  • Ajman
  • Fujairah
  • Umm al-Quaiwain
Country Area in km² Population in millions Capital Remarks
United Arab Emirates 83,600 2.7 Abu Dhabi internationally not yet a separate state

The United Arab Emirates is located in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula and borders the Persian Gulf.

The coast, which was once called the Pirate Coast, has numerous islands in front of it.

Two-thirds of the country is covered by the Rub al-Khali desert and one third is covered with rubble and gravel. Only a few oases make the inland habitable and buildable. In the east of the United Arab Emirates, the Hajar mountain range runs through the country from north to south. The United Arab Emirates are among the driest regions on earth.

Area and land use

The United Arab Emirates cover a total area of 83,600 km², excluding the offshore islands 77,700 km².

They are distributed among the seven emirates as follows:

  • Abu Dhabi with an area of 67,340 km²
  • Dubai with an area of 3,885 km²
  • Sharjah with an area of 2,590 km²
  • Ras Al-Khaimah with an area of 1,680 km²
  • Fujairah with an area of 1,165 km²
  • Umm Al-Quaiwain with an area of 777 km²
  • Ajman with an area of 259 km²

Agriculture

Agriculture only accounts for 2.3% of the gross national product. Mainly dates are produced.

Swamp

The desert, which occupies almost the entire country, turns towards the coasts into salt flats and salt marshes.

Mountains

The Hajar Mountains run through the country from north to south, parallel to the east coast. The mountains rise in the north of the United Arab Emirates to a height of around 2,000 m.

Desert

Two thirds of the United Arab Emirates are covered by the Rub al-Khali desert. The remaining third of the country is characterized by stone and semi-desert. In the south and southwest, the emirates border the largest contiguous desert area on earth, the Rub al-Khali.

National borders

The United Arab Emirates border has a total length of 867 km, with the border with Oman 410 km and with Saudi Arabia 457 km long.

Coast lengths

The United Arab Emirates has a sea coast of around 1,318 km.

Tidal range in Abu Dhabi

In Abu Dhabi the mean tidal range is only a few decimeters.

You can find detailed explanations of ebb and flow under tides, ebb and flow, general.

Compare

The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax.

On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

The United Arab Emirates extend over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = from 22 ° 30 ‘N to 26 ° N Δλ = from 51 ° 30′ O to 56 ° 30 ‘O

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

Central European Time (CET) does not apply in the United Arab Emirates, i.e. the same time as in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A minus sign means that it is earlier there and a plus sign that it is later than after CET:

Δt (CET) = + 3 h

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi is located at a southern latitude of around φ = 24 ° 30 ‘N (exactly: 24 ° 28’ N). If the sun is at the tropic, i.e. at λ = -23.5 °, summer will start in Abu Dhabi on June 21. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun).

24 ° = – (90 ° – h) + -23.5 °

so:

H = 89 °

This is the highest level above the horizon (exactly: above the chimney) that the sun occupies within the year.

If the declination of the sun has the value of 08 ° 30 ‘S, and thus the image point of the sun is exactly above the city or island, the sun is perpendicular there. This happens exactly twice a year, roughly 1 month before March 21st and 1 month after September 21st.

Attention

If the image point of the sun and thus the declination is north of the latitude of Nuku’alofa, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes, but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where, like us, it sets.

Mountains

The highest mountains in the country are in the Hajar Mountains, which rise to a height of around 2,000 m.

Rivers

In the plains of the Hajar Mountains, there are dry river valleys called wadis. They are fed by groundwater and rain, but do not have water all year round.

Islands

There are around 200 islands off the coast of the Persian Gulf. The larger islands include the following:

  • Sir Bani Yas
  • Abu al Abiad
  • Dalma
  • Al Jasat
  • Sir Abu Nuair
  • Al Karmain
  • Abu Musa
  • Sirri

Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz

Gulf of Oman

The Gulf of Oman is the northwestern part of the Arabian Sea and stretches from the Strait of Hormuz – the strait to the Persian Gulf – to the Arabian Sea. The gulf is around 560 km long with a width at a typical point of, for example, 200 km. In addition to Oman, the Gulf is bordered by Iran in the north and the United Arab Emirates in the west.

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf lies between Iran, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula. It covers an area of 235,000 km² – with a maximum depth of around 100 m and a water content of around 6,000 km³. In the south it goes over the less than approx. 60 km wide and strategically very important Strait from Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman and then into the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. In addition to Bahrain, the Persian Gulf also includes the following countries: Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The inflow of “fresh water” takes place via the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers – the Shatt al-Arab – on the border between Iraq and Iran.

Strait of Hormuz (Hormuz)

The approximately 210 km long and 55 km wide Strait of Hormuz lies in the south at the end of the Persian Gulf and is its connection to the Gulf of Oman, which then merges into the Arabian Sea. This relatively narrow road forms a kind of bottleneck for shipping from the oil terminals in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, as well as a large part of the Saudi Arabian shipping traffic. Therefore, this strait is of great geo-strategic importance.

United Arab Emirates Population