Number of expats in Oman on the rise again

Muscat: The total number of expats in Oman nearly crossed the 2 million threshold in September 2019, according to Oman's National Centre for Statistics and Information.

As of 20 September, there were 1,999,978 expats in Oman, and this number increased to 2,001,090 compared to 2,674,049 Omanis as of Tuesday, October 2, 2019.

Most expats in Oman — as of August 2019 — were in Muscat with 881,748 expats, followed by North Al Batinah with 265,366 expats and Dhofar with 233,124 expats.

The lowest number of expats were in Musandam with 15,364 expats and in Al Wusta with 24,547 expats, followed by Al Buraimi with 56,770 expats.

The percentage of expats in Oman has decreased from 45.8 per cent in 2016 to 45.5 in 2017, then 44.2 per cent in 2018 and 42.8 per cent in 2019 (so far) as the Sultanate’s government’s ‘Omanisation’ drive kicks into high gear.