In 2018, the majority of the expatriates residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) hailed from India, with a population size of around *** million. The expatriate population made up the vast majority of the country’s total population, at around ** percent as of 2018.  UAE Economy  With a real gross domestic product growth rate of *** percent in 2018, the UAE is one of the biggest economies in the region. (1143018) Since its discovery of oil in the mid 90’s, the country has transformed and has become a regional hub. It has demonstrated significant growth in various economics sectors, driven by the country’s shift in focus from the hydrocarbons sector. (1143358) Along with low levels of unemployment, this has led to the influx of workers from diverse nationalities.  Migration figures The UAE is one of the top countries worldwide to attract global talent. (1039195) In 2018, around a quarter of million people migrated from the Philippines to work in the UAE. (880782) In comparison, the number of Indonesian workers amounted to less than *** thousand in 2019.

As of 2018, the demographic group of 30 to 34-year-olds in the Emirate of Dubai was above *** thousand people. Considering that the total population of the Emirate of Dubai was estimated to be around *** million people in 2020, the above-mentioned age bracket is a substantial share of Dubai’s society.   In the context of the United Arab Emirates   Dubai is the most populous region in the United Arab Emirates, followed by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi the United Arab Emirates was the second largest country amongst the Gulf Cooperation Council countries with almost ** million people, behind Saudi Arabia with a population thrice the size. The United Arab Emirates has about *** million male and *** million female inhabitants altogether.  Expats and Emirati    When discussing the demographic composition of this region, the gender imbalance is not the only demographic skewness experienced in the United Arab Emirates, particularly in its Dubai region. Additionally, foreign workers and expatriates significantly outnumber the indigenous population. Only an estimated *** million people in the United Arab Emirates are nationals of their country. The majority of the expatriate’s hail from the subcontinent. In terms of the working population of the United Arab Emirates, ** percent of men and ** percent of women in the labor force are from Asia.  Outlook    The population density of the UAE is continuing to grow, though the urban population growth of the UAE had slowed down considerably.

This statistic shows the estimated Asian immigrant population of the United Arab Emirates in 2017, by country of origin. In 2017, there were over ******* Indian immigrants in United Arab Emirates.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had over *** million overseas Indians residing in the country as of May 2024. Saudi Arabia had the second-highest Indian population among other GCC countries. ** percent of overseas Indians reside in GCC countries. GCC, or the Gulf Cooperation Council, is a group of six nations – Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

The UAE private K12 education market, valued at $6.67 billion in 2025, is projected to experience robust growth, exhibiting a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.50% from 2025 to 2033. This expansion is fueled by several key factors. A rising expatriate population, coupled with increasing disposable incomes among UAE residents, fuels demand for high-quality private education. Furthermore, the government's emphasis on education reform and its commitment to attracting global talent contribute significantly to market growth. Parents prioritize international curricula, such as American, British, and Indian, seeking globally recognized qualifications for their children. This preference drives the market segmentation, with American and British curricula likely holding the largest shares. The competitive landscape features established players like GEMS Education, Nord Anglia Education, and several international school chains, alongside smaller, specialized institutions. Competition is intense, driving innovation in teaching methodologies, technology integration, and extracurricular activities to attract students. Potential restraints might include fluctuating oil prices impacting disposable income and the potential for government regulations to influence tuition fees. However, the long-term outlook remains positive, given the UAE's economic diversification strategies and ongoing investments in its human capital. The market segmentation highlights significant opportunities for growth within specific curricula and school levels. The Kindergarten to Secondary segments demonstrate consistent demand, although the intermediary (middle school) segment might experience fluctuating growth based on population demographics. The presence of multiple international curricula allows for niche market targeting, suggesting potential for specialized schools catering to specific cultural or academic preferences. Geographic variations within the UAE's regions (North, West, South, East) may also lead to localized variations in market dynamics, with potential for higher growth in specific areas based on population density and socioeconomic factors. Future growth projections will likely be influenced by factors such as government policies on education spending, the influx of skilled workers, and the evolution of technological advancements within the education sector. Therefore, a strategic approach focusing on delivering high-quality education, catering to diverse needs, and adapting to technological advancements will be crucial for success in this dynamic market. Recent developments include: May 2023: Glendale International School opened its doors to students aged 3 to 11 in Dubai. Singapore-based Global Schools Foundation announced the launch. Sprawling over 20,000 square meters, the new premises can accommodate 3000 students., March 2023: Kings’ Education, Dubai, announced a partnership with Leap, the San Francisco headquartered end-to-end study abroad platform. This helps the company to better cater to their students.. Key drivers for this market are: Government Initiatives to Achieve High Education Standards is Driving Market Growth, Growing Preferences for Private Education is Driving the Market. Potential restraints include: Government Initiatives to Achieve High Education Standards is Driving Market Growth, Growing Preferences for Private Education is Driving the Market. Notable trends are: Increased Rate of Population Growth, including Expatriates.

Abstract

The PIRLS 2006 aimed to generate a database of student achievement data in addition to information on student, parent, teacher, and school background data for the 47 areas that participated in PIRLS 2006.

Geographic coverage

Nationally representative

Analysis unit

Units of analysis in the study are schools, students, parents and teachers.

Universe

PIRLS is a study of student achievement in reading comprehension in primary school, and is targeted at the grade level in which students are at the transition from learning to read to reading to learn, which is the fourth grade in most countries. The formal definition of the PIRLS target population makes use of UNESCO's International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) in identifying the appropriate target grade:

"…all students enrolled in the grade that represents four years of schooling, counting from the first year of ISCED Level 1, providing the mean age at the time of testing is at least 9.5 years. For most countries, the target grade should be the fourth grade, or its national equivalent."

ISCED Level 1 corresponds to primary education or the first stage of basic education, and should mark the beginning of "systematic apprenticeship of reading, writing, and mathematics" (UNESCO, 1999). By the fourth year of Level 1, students have had 4 years of formal instruction in reading, and are in the process of becoming independent readers. In IEA studies, the above definition corresponds to what is known as the international desired target population. Each participating country was expected to define its national desired population to correspond as closely as possible to this definition (i.e., its fourth grade of primary school). In order to measure trends, it was critical that countries that participated in PIRLS 2001, the previous cycle of PIRLS, choose the same target grade for PIRLS 2006 that was used in PIRLS 2001. Information about the target grade in each country is provided in Chapter 9 of the PIRLS 2006 Technical Report.

Although countries were expected to include all students in the target grade in their definition of the population, sometimes it was not possible to include all students who fell under the definition of the international desired target population. Consequently, occasionally a country's national desired target population excluded some section of the population, based on geographic or linguistic constraints. For example, Lithuania's national desired target population included only students in Lithuanian-speaking schools, representing approximately 93 percent of the international desired population of students in the country. PIRLS participants were expected to ensure that the national defined population included at least 95 percent of the national desired population of students. Exclusions (which had to be kept to a minimum) could occur at the school level, within the sampled schools, or both. Although countries were expected to do everything possible to maximize coverage of the national desired population, school-level exclusions sometimes were necessary. Keeping within the 95 percent limit, school-level exclusions could include schools that:

• were geographically remote,
• had very few students,
• had a curriculum or structure different from the mainstream education system, or
• were specifically for students with special needs.

The difference between these school-level exclusions and those at the previous level is that these schools were included as part of the sampling frame (i.e., the list of schools to be sampled). Th ey then were eliminated on an individual basis if it was not feasible to include them in the testing.

In many education systems, students with special educational needs are included in ordinary classes. Due to this fact, another level of exclusions is necessary to reach an eff ective target population-the population of students who ultimately will be tested. These are called within-school exclusions and pertain to students who are unable to be tested for a particular reason but are part of a regular classroom. There are three types of within-school exclusions.

• Intellectually disabled students
• Functionally disabled students
• Non-native language speakers

Students eligible for within-school exclusion were identified by staff at the schools and could still be administered the test if the school did not want the student to feel out of place during the assessment (though the data from these students were not included in any analyses). Again, it was important to ensure that this population was as close to the national desired target population as possible. If combined, school-level and within-school exclusions exceeded 5 percent of the national desired target population, results were annotated in the PIRLS 2006 International Report (Mullis, Martin, Kennedy, & Foy, 2007). Target population coverage and exclusion rates are displayed for each country in Chapter 9 of the PIRLS 2006 Technical Report. Descriptions of the countries' school-level and within-school exclusions can be found in Appendix B of the PIRLS 2006 Technical Report.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The basic sample design used in PIRLS 2006 is known as a two-stage stratified cluster design, with the first stage consisting of a sample of schools, and the second stage consisting of a sample of intact classrooms from the target grade in the sampled schools. While all participants adopted this basic two-stage design, four countries, with approval from the PIRLS sampling consultants, added an extra sampling stage. The Russian Federation and the United States introduced a preliminary sampling stage, (first sampling regions in the case of the Russian Federation and primary sampling units consisting of metropolitan areas and counties in the case of the United States). Morocco and Singapore also added a third sampling stage; in these cases, sub-sampling students within classrooms rather than selecting intact classes.

For countries participating in PIRLS 2006, school stratification was used to enhance the precision of the survey results. Many participants employed explicit stratification, where the complete school sampling frame was divided into smaller sampling frames according to some criterion, such as region, to ensurea predetermined number of schools sampled for each stratum. For example, Austria divided its sampling frame into nine regions to ensure proportional representation by region (see Appendix B for stratification information for each country). Stratification also could be done implicitly, a procedure by which schools in a sampling frame were sorted according to a set of stratification variables prior to sampling. For example, Austria employed implicit stratification by district and school size within each regional stratum. Regardless of the other stratification variables used, all countries used implicit stratification by a measure of size (MOS) of the school.

All countries used a systematic (random start, fixed interval) probability proportional-to-size (PPS) sampling approach to sample schools. Note that when this method is combined with an implicit stratification procedure, the allocation of schools in the sample is proportional to the size of the implicit strata. Within the sampled schools, classes were sampled using a systematic random method in all countries except Morocco and Singapore, where classes were sampled with probability proportional to size, and students within classes sampled with equal probability. The PIRLS 2006 sample designs were implemented in an acceptable manner by all participants.

Sampling deviation

8 National Research Coordinators (NRCs) encountered organizational constraints in their systems that necessitated deviations from the sample design. In each case, the Statistics Canada sampling expert was consulted to ensure that the altered design remained compatible with the PIRLS standards.

These country specific deviations from sample design are detailed in Appendix B of the PIRLS 2006 Technical Report (page 231) attached as Related Material.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

• PIRLS Background Questionnaires By gathering information about children’s experiences together with reading achievement on the PIRLS test, it is possible to identify the factors or combinations of factors that relate to high reading literacy. An important part of the PIRLS design is a set of questionnaires targeting factors related to reading literacy. PIRLS administered four questionnaires: to the tested students, to their parents, to their reading teachers, and to their school principals.

• Student Questionnaire Each student taking the PIRLS reading assessment completes the student questionnaire. The questionnaire asks about aspects of students’ home and school experiences - including instructional experiences and reading for homework, self-perceptions and attitudes towards reading, out-of-school reading habits, computer use, home literacy resources, and basic demographic information.

• Learning to Read (Home) Survey The learning to read survey is completed by the parents or primary caregivers of each student taking the PIRLS reading assessment. It addresses child-parent literacy interactions, home literacy resources, parents’ reading habits and attitudes, homeschool connections, and basic demographic and socioeconomic indicators.

• Teacher Questionnaire The reading teacher of each fourth-grade class sampled for PIRLS completes a questionnaire designed to gather information about classroom contexts for developing reading literacy. This questionnaire

As of May 2024, a total of *** million Indian migrants were estimated to live in the United States of America, followed by over ***** million in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India has over ** million overseas Indians living across the world.

In 2024, Dubai was a popular destination for Indian travelers. More than *** million visitors arrived in the city from India. Compared to previous years, the number of international tourists arriving in UAE declined in 2020, totaling roughly ************* people. However, it has since bounced back, with over ********** visitors in 2024. COVID-19 recovery In the United Arab Emirates, ** percent of respondents were optimistic about recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic by 2021. By March 2021, the United Arab Emirates had conducted around **** million COVID-19 tests. The tourism industry's GDP share in the United Arab Emirates was forecasted to reach ** percent by 2025. The projection has been modified to account for the anticipated impact of COVID-19. GDP contribution and economy By 2028, the direct tourism contribution to the GDP of the United Arab Emirates was forecast to reach almost *** billion U.S. dollars. With a Global Financial Centre’s Index score of *** points in 2020, Dubai was the most appealing financial hub in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Furthermore, the wholesale and retail sector remained the largest contributor to the GDP of the emirate of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the first quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, the financial services and insurance, and transportation and storage sectors followed.

In 2024, Oppenheimer was the highest-grossing movie in the United Arab Emirates at a staggering ************* U.S. dollars. Among the top ten movies on the list, **** of them were Indian Bollywood productions. The Goat Life stood out as the lone Malayalam language film on the list, alongside Argylle, the sole Apple Original production, which added diversity to the lineup with its action-comedy genre.

Movie preferences in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates boasts a diverse movie industry thanks to its overwhelming expat population. The top-grossing films highlight a strong affinity for Indian cinema, particularly in Hindi and Malayalam languages. Action and adventure movies were by far the most preferred film genres in the UAE. In addition to local cinemas, all major online streaming platforms have a footprint in the market. Netflix was one of the most popular streaming platforms for watching action and adventure movies in the UAE.

UAE film industry investment

As a major tourist destination, the UAE invests heavily in entertainment. In 2021, the country generated the second-highest box office revenue in the Middle East, following Saudi Arabia. Dubai and Abu Dhabi currently have the highest number of cinemas in the UAE. Additionally, the country has been investing in film production. In August 2024, Abu Dhabi’s TwoFour54, a media-free zone, allocated ** hectares to be the site of a new film studio to attract international producers.

Nearly **** of the remittances that left the United Arab Emirates in 2021 went towards India, according to a ranking that maps the flow of such money transfers. Remittances refer to cross-border payments to family or friends and are often associated with migrant workers sending money back home to friends or relatives back in their communities of origin. It is estimated that about *** in ***** people worldwide are involved with remittances - substantially impacting payment behavior in, especially, Asia and Latin America. The UAE stands out in this reporting as it one of the few countries that did not have a registered inflow of remittances. The source does not clarify why this is the case - it does not state whether there is a lack of data on this, or incoming remittances were simply too small. The top five recipient countries for remittances from the UAE in 2021 included India, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines.

As of February 2025, India had a total of 413.85 million Instagram users, the largest Instagram audience in the world. The United States had 171.7 million users, and Brazil had 140.7 million. Indonesia, Turkey, and Japan ranked in fourth, fifth and sixth position, respectively. Kazakhstan is the leading country for Instagram audience reach, with 86.2 percent of the population using the social media service. Turkey came in second, with a penetration rate of 85.5 percent and Uruguay ranked third, with 87.1 percent, followed closely by the UAE, Brazil, and Bahrain. It took Instagram 11.2 years to reach the milestone of 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, took 11 years, whilst Facebook took 13.3 years and YouTube took just over 14 years. Instagram’s demographics in the United States As of March 2025, Instagram was the fourth most visited social media service in the United States, after Facebook, Pinterest and X. Out of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, TikTok was the most used of all three platforms by Generation Z. Overall, 57 percent of Gen Z social media users used Instagram in 2021, down from 61 percent in 2020 and 64 percent in 2019. Instagram finds most popularity with those in the 25 to 34 year age group, and as of January 2025, roughly 28.3 of all users in the United States belonged to this age group. The social media app was also more likely to be used by women. Most followed accounts on Instagram Instagram’s official account had the most followers as of April 2024 with over 672 million followers. Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) had over 628 million followers on the platform, while the Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi (@leomessi) had over 502 million followers. The Instagram accounts of the American singer and actress Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) and the media personality and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner) had over 400 million followers each.

As of September, 30th 2023, there were roughly **** million white-collar jobs in the emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. During the same period, there were around *** thousand more blue-collar jobs in the emirate. The total employed population in the emirate was approximately **** million.