Qatari women: marrying older & having fewer children 7, September 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Qatar.Tags: Qatar, Qatar birth rate, Qatar birth rate statistics, Qatar fertility rate, Qatar marriage statistics, Qatar marriages, Qatar statistics, Qatari women marrying older
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More statistics have been released confirming a trend in recent years; Qatari women are getting married older and having fewer children.
Fertility rate of Qatari women (children per woman)
1999 – 5.7
2004 – 4.2
2009 – 3.8
Birth rate of Qatari women aged 15-19
1986 – 43 per 1000
1997 – 21 per 1000
2004 – 13 per 1000
2009 – 12 per 1000
Easier access to Education and evolving social norms are thought to be the key determinants behind the shifts. Women now find it not only more socially acceptably but practically easier to have a career, pushing the average child bearing age of Qatari women from 29.7 to 30.2 in only four years. Indeed, with increasing Qatarisation initiatives, given the choice between a Qatari man and a Qatari woman, employers – particularly Western, private sector ones – are more likely to choose the Qatari woman over the Qatari man (Qatari men have something of a well-deserved reputation…).
The Gulf blog 
Does that trend exist also in Saudi Arabia?
other gulf states?
In Saudi the opportunities for work and education are not (yet) comparable to Qatar. So, whilst I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lowering of such stats, I’d have thought that Qatar’s prodigious changes will not be found in Saudi.
I’d suspect that you’d see a very similar pattern in the UAE. Bahrain, where women have been in the job market for longer, will, I’d have thought, have seen this kind of decrease some time ago. Kuwait too will be seeing a similar, though perhaps less dramatic, trend.