Dubai’s population has grown by over 100,000 year-to-date, according to Dubai Statistics Center data.
The increase in population is attributed to the high inflow of foreign workers, professionals and investors who flocked to the emirate this year, attracted by the successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic, higher returns on property investments, the introduction of a variety of residency permits and ease of doing business among others.
The city’s population grew by 100,240, reaching 3.65 million on December 17, 2023, as compared to 3.55 million on January 1, 2023.
The emirate’s population grew at a faster pace in 2023 as compared to 2022, as the emirate added 71,495 new residents last year.
Dubai has been a magnet for millionaires and billionaires, professionals and investors that created a lot of job opportunities as well in the city in the past two years, following massive job cuts in the pandemic year of 2020.
According to the New World Wealth report, 1,500 millionaires relocated from London to Dubai in the past 10 years and another 250 will move to the emirate this year.
Similarly, the Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2023 has projected that 4,500 millionaires will relocate to the UAE this year, the second highest migration after Australia.
While 5 billionaires moved to the Emirates this year while 2 new millionaires joined the billionaire club as the wealth of the residents has grown immensely in the past couple of years, driven by strong growth in the key strategic sectors such as real estate, travel and tourism, retail and overall economy as well, according to UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report 2023.
Mega events such as the six-month-long Expo 2020 and the recently-concluded 28th edition of the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) further raised the profile of the UAE and Dubai among global investors attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the globe.
In addition, the government also introduced various new residency permits such as Golden Visa, Retirement Visa and Freelance Visa etc. that brought in new residents to the country.