| Economy - overview | Qatar’s oil and natural gas resources are the country’s main economic engine and government revenue source, driving Qatar’s high economic growth and per capita income levels, robust state spending on public entitlements, and booming construction spending, particularly as Qatar prepares to host the World Cup in 2022. Although the government has maintained high capital spending levels for ongoing infrastructure projects, low oil and natural gas prices in recent years have led the Qatari Government to tighten some spending to help stem its budget deficit. Qatar’s reliance on oil and natural gas is likely to persist for the foreseeable future. Proved natural gas reserves exceed 25 trillion cubic meters - 13% of the world total and, among countries, third largest in the world. Proved oil reserves exceed 25 billion barrels, allowing production to continue at current levels for about 56 years. Despite the dominance of oil and natural gas, Qatar has made significant gains in strengthening non-oil sectors, such as manufacturing, construction, and financial services, leading non-oil GDP to steadily rise in recent years to just over half the total. Following trade restriction imposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt in 2017, Qatar established new trade routes with other countries to maintain access to imports. |
| GDP (purchasing power parity) | $255.01 billion (2019 est.) $253.049 billion (2018 est.) $249.963 billion (2017 est.) note: data are in 2010 dollars |
| GDP (official exchange rate) | $191.29 billion (2018 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 1.6% (2017 est.) 2.1% (2016 est.) 3.7% (2015 est.) |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) | $90,044 (2019 est.) $90,970 (2018 est.) $91,739 (2017 est.) note: data are in 2010 dollars |
| Gross national saving | 45% of GDP (2019 est.) 49.7% of GDP (2018 est.) 46.6% of GDP (2017 est.) |
| GDP - composition, by end use | household consumption: 24.6% (2017 est.) government consumption: 17% (2017 est.) investment in fixed capital: 43.1% (2017 est.) investment in inventories: 1.5% (2017 est.) exports of goods and services: 51% (2017 est.) imports of goods and services: -37.3% (2017 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 0.2% (2017 est.) industry: 50.3% (2017 est.) services: 49.5% (2017 est.) |
| Ease of Doing Business Index scores | Overall score: 68.7 (2020) Starting a Business score: 86.1 (2020) Trading score: 71.5 (2020) Enforcement score: 54.6 (2020) |
| Population below poverty line | NA |
| Labor force | 1.953 million (2017 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 8.9% (2017 est.) 11.1% (2016 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 0.4% male: 0.2% female: 1.5% (2018 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 1.3% highest 10%: 35.9% (2007) |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index | 41.1 (2007) |
| Budget | revenues: 44.1 billion (2017 est.) expenditures: 53.82 billion (2017 est.) |
| Taxes and other revenues | 26.4% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
| Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) | -5.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
| Public debt | 53.8% of GDP (2017 est.) 46.7% of GDP (2016 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | -0.6% (2019 est.) 0.2% (2018 est.) 0.3% (2017 est.) |
| Credit ratings | Fitch rating: AA- (2017) Moody's rating: Aa3 (2017) Standard & Poors rating: AA- (2017) |
| Agriculture - products | tomatoes, dates, camel milk, sheep milk, goat milk, pumpkins/gourds, mutton, poultry, milk, eggplants |
| Industries | liquefied natural gas, crude oil production and refining, ammonia, fertilizer, petrochemicals, steel reinforcing bars, cement, commercial ship repair |
| Industrial production growth rate | 3% (2017 est.) |
| Current Account Balance | $6.426 billion (2017 est.) -$8.27 billion (2016 est.) |
| Exports | $67.5 billion (2017 est.) $57.25 billion (2016 est.) |
| Exports - commodities | natural gas, crude petroleum, refined petroleum, ethylene polymers, fertilizers (2019) |
| Exports - partners | Japan 17%, South Korea 16%, India 14%, China 13%, Singapore 7% (2019) |
| Imports | $30.77 billion (2017 est.) $31.93 billion (2016 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | aircraft, gas turbines, cars, jewelry, iron piping (2019) |
| Imports - partners | United States 15%, France 13%, United Kingdom 9%, China 9%, Germany 5%, Italy 5% (2019) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | $15.01 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $31.89 billion (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Debt - external | $167.8 billion (31 December 2017 est.) $157.9 billion (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Exchange rates | Qatari rials (QAR) per US dollar - 3.641 (2020 est.) 3.641 (2019 est.) 3.641 (2018 est.) 3.64 (2014 est.) 3.64 (2013 est.) |
| Fiscal year | 1 April - 31 March |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
