Population inching back to year's highest levels

The Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics (MDPS) on Wednesday reported a marginal rise of 1.3% in Qatar's population.

The population on October 31 was 2,668,415, which showed an increase of more than 3,400 compared to the figures released at the end of September (2,634,234).The month of May showed a population of 2,700,539, the highest of the year so far. It was the only time that Qatar's population exceeded 2.7mn in the country's history. The second highest this year was in April, when Qatar had 2,675,522 people. The April figure was a little more than in February, when the authorities reported a figure of  2,673,022. The latest figures from MDPS showed an increase of more than 2%, compared to the figures of the corresponding month in 2016.A close look at the country's population graph shows the highest population is usually recorded in the month of November. Last year's highest was at the end of November when the country had 2,637,302 residents.The lowest in 2016 was in July when the population fell to 2,326,465 when a large number of residents, mainly expatriates, go on vacation. Similarly, a large number of residents were outside Qatar in August, so the year's lowest (2,446,328) was recorded that month.