Country Overview | Key Property Facts

Currency

UAE dirham (AED or Dh).

Capital

Dubai City

Major cities

Dubai City

Geography

Dubai can either refer to two places – one of the seven emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates (UAE), situated on the Persian Gulf in the eastern Arabian Peninsula, or that emirate's main city, sometimes called "Dubai City" to distinguish it from the emirate itself.

Politics

A constitutional monarchy ruled by the Al Maktoum family since 1833, Dubai is one of seven emirates within the federation known as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), founded in 1971.

The ruler of Abu Dhabi is President of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Dubai (Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum) is also the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.

Legal system

Dubai and Ras al Khaimah are the only emirates that do not conform to the federal judicial system of the United Arab Emirates. The emirate's judicial courts comprise the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal, and the Court of Cassation.

Article 25 of the Constitution of the UAE provides for the equitable treatment of persons with regard to race, nationality, religious beliefs or social status. However, many of Dubai's 250,000 foreign labourers live in conditions described by Human Rights Watch as being "less than human."

Economy

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12% (2007 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): US$189.6 billion (whole of UAE 2007 est.)
GDP (purchasing power parity): US$145.8 billion (whole of UAE 2007 est.)
GDP (real) growth rate: 8.5% (whole of UAE 2007 est.)

Dubai maintained its importance as a trade route through the 1970s and 1980s. The city of Dubai has a free trade in gold and until the 1990s was the hub of a "brisk smuggling trade" of gold ingots to India, where gold import was restricted.

Today, Dubai is an important tourist destination and port (Jebel Ali, constructed in the 1970s, has the largest man-made harbour in the world), but is also increasingly developing as a hub for service industries such as IT and finance, with the new Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

Transport links are bolstered by its rapidly-expanding Emirates Airline, founded by the government in 1985 and still state-owned; based at Dubai International Airport, it carried over 28 million passengers in fiscal year 2006 and 24 million the year before.

The government has set up industry-specific free zones throughout the city.

People

According to the census conducted by Statistical Centre of Dubai in 2006, the population of the emirate was 1,422,000 as of 2006, which included 1,073,000 males and 349,000 females. As of 1998, just 17% of the population of the emirate was made up of UAE nationals.

Approximately 85% of the expatriate population (and 71% of the emirate's total population) was Asian (chiefly Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi). About 3% of the total population of Dubai was categorized as "Western".

Country ratings (U.A.E.)

Economist Intelligence Unit Quality of Life Index (1-10): 5.899, rank: 69th (2005) ) [UK 6.917, rank 29th]
Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom: Rank 63, 62.8% free [UK Rank 10, 79.5% free]
Heritage Foundation Index of Property Rights Freedom: 40% (2008) [UK = 90%, Spain = 70%]

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