Qatar has around 2.4 million people living in a relatively tiny 12,000 square kilometer country. The short answer to the question on why Qatar is rich is this: oil. In fact, among all members of the OPEC, or the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Qatar is the smallest.
Qatar may be a small country population and land area wise, but thanks to its oil, it is a rich country with high income. In fact, around 55 percent of the country’s gross domestic product can be attributed to both gas and oil. As a matter of fact, Qatar’s royals are among the richest in the world, and they live luxurious lifestyles the common man can only dream of.
Reasons Why Qatar Has Highest Per Capita GDP in the World
1. Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)
The QIA is responsible for investing, managing, and growing the reserves of the country, allowing it to flourish as an economy. It also aims to create various kinds of opportunities other than oil, to promote economic growth. This involves looking at other potential exports and developing local talent. Ever since the QIA was formed back in 2005, its success can be seen in the fact that it has, to this date, obtained 335 billion US dollars of assets from the rest of the world.
2. Per Capita GDP
Speaking of being rich, Qatar is actually the richest country in the world, at least in terms of per capita GDP. The country’s numbers stand at $127,600. Luxembourg comes in at second place with a per capita GDP of $104,003. Again, this can be attributed to the fact that it is quite a small country that is blessed with the third largest oil reserve in the world.
3. Resilience Despite Embargo
More than a year ago, Saudi Arabia and some of its allies have launched an economic embargo against Qatar, because the country was purported to be supporting Iran and its terrorist activities. In this embargo, these Arab countries have closed land, sea, and air links against Qatar, hoping to deprive the rich tiny country. While this severely impacted Qatar in the beginning, it has since stabilized by using its huge finances to pay for imports, and now has enough assets to pay for its shortages until a hundred years from now.
4. Becoming Self-sufficient
Over the years, Qatar has created projects that aim to become self-sufficient. This includes building the Hamad Port, which aims to be a mega port in the region. Qatar also spent 700 million dollars to build a huge dairy farm to become self-sufficient in terms of milk.
Indeed, Qatar is the richest country in the world. In fact, it is currently spending tens of billions of dollars to create stadiums and other state-of-the-art facilities for the 2022 World Cup. That despite the many problems it is facing!