UAE: Indians form largest expatriates' group

With 1.75 million population in the United Arab Emirates, Indians continue to be the largest group of expatriates in the country of six million people, a study in Dubai said.

The second largest group in the UAE is from Pakistan, with about 1.25 million. Roughly 500,000 Bangladeshis also stay in the country.

Members of other Asian communities, including China, the Philippines, Thailand, Korea, Afghanistan and Iran make up approximately one million of the total population, the Gulf News said.

It quoted a senior official as saying that these figures reveal that the expatriate population is rapidly increasing.

The figure is the result of two major studies carried out on visa registration and the number of people employed in the country.

Western expatriates, from Europe, Australia, Northern Africa, Africa and Latin America make up 500,000 of the overall population.

Results from the 2005 census showed that the population was 4,104,695, of which 20.1 per cent were Emiratis.