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Index / Peoples
  Bahrain /
Peoples
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Ethnic groups
Figures in 1000. |
Arabs
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480 |
66.0% |
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Bahrainis
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370 |
51.0% |
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Najdis
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110 |
15.0% |
Indians
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90 |
12.0% |
Persians
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60 |
8.5% |
Bangladeshis
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40 |
5.5% |
Pakistanis
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15 |
2.0% |
Filipinos
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15 |
2.0% |
British
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15 |
2.0% |
Indonesians
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3 |
0.5% |
Other
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10 |
1.5% |
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Bahrain is a society with a large presence of foreign workers, but considerably less than in other Gulf states. Here, the pre-oil population is the majority, representing 3 of 4 inhabitants.
The two Arab groups both originate in the lands corresponding to modern Saudi Arabia. The Baharna are of the same stock as the people of the al-Hasa Oasis, and is the indigenous population that has lived in Bahrain for at least 5,000 years.
The other group of Arabs immigrated from Najd some 200 years back in time, and have since long established a Bahrain identity.
The Persians of Bahrain have a history here of 400 years, meaning that they classify as natives. Still, immigration from Iran happened all up until 60 years ago. There is very little social and cultural interaction between them and the Arabs.
There is considerable statistical insecurity here, while LookLex' estimates give room for less than 200,000 non-nationals, other reports make this group larger than 500,000. As a matter of fact, while all reports set the national population to between 700,000 and 750,000, in some reports data for each ethnic group give a total of near 1 million.
© Copyright 1996-2009 LookLex Ltd. All rights reserved
By: Tore Kjeilen
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