Total population |
---|
150,000–200,000[1] |
Languages |
Tagalog, English, other languages of the Philippines and Arabic |
Religion |
Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, and others |
Related ethnic groups |
Filipinos in Qatar are either migrants or descendants of the Philippines living in Qatar. Between 150,000 and 200,000 Filipinos live in Qatar,[1] and frequently work as construction workers, domestic helpers, or in the travel industry.[2] By the end of 2009, Filipinos are estimated to be the second-largest group of foreign workers in Qatar, after Indians.[3] With 56,277 Filipinos arriving between January and November 2008, Qatar is the third-largest destination of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW's) in the Middle East after the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia,[4] and also the fourth-largest destination of OFW's worldwide.[5]
Filipino President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said that Qatar was going to hire 37,000 more Filipinos to work on infrastructure projects in 2009, mostly in the areas of services, construction, and energy.[6] The Qatar Minister of Labour also set aside 121,924 work permits "exclusively for Filipinos," also for 2009.[3] About 22 major companies (and 27 in all), including engineering company Bechtel-Qatar, Royally owned transportation company Mowasalat and Lulu Hypermarkets.[7][3][8] In addition, 65% of the construction workers helping build New Doha International Airport are Filipino.[1] The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment also has a Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Qatar.[9]
There are about 44 Filipino organisations in Qatar,[10] ranging from the Philippine Basketball League Qatar to the Qatar Pinoy Riders.[11][12] In March 2008, Hamad bin Khalifa, the emir of Qatar, allowed five Christian denominations to open churches.[13] A Roman Catholic Church, with a Filipino priest and a predominantly Filipino congregation was among those that opened.[13] In October 2008, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation sponsored a Filipino cultural exposition in Doha that experienced an extremely high turnout of 13,000.[14]
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