Muscat – The sultanate’s population touched the landmark 5mn figure for the first time on Wednesday, according to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The numbers show Oman’s population grew 8.24 per cent year-on-year to 5,000,772 on March 22, 2023. The total population includes 2,881,313 or 57.62 per cent Omanis and 2,119,459 or 42.38 per cent expatriates.

In January 2023, 5,539 births were recorded among Omanis, and 599 among expatriates, while in February, 4,774 babies were born to Omanis and 492 to expats.

A year ago in February 2022, Oman’s population was 4,595,661, when expats formed 38.17 per cent or 1,781,935 of the total population.

Expat numbers fell 11 per cent in 2020 and went back to pre-pandemic levels crossing the 2mn mark again in October 2022.

The overall population had decreased for the first time in many years in 2020 when 269,600 expat workers left Oman due to the pandemic. According to NCSI’s February 2019 statistics, the population was then 4,669, 073, which came down to 4,647,402 in February 2020. It further dropped to 4,496,419 in February 2021.

According to NCSI, the population of Omani children, in the age group of 0-17 years, increased by 16 per cent between 2017 and 2021. This resulted in the group’s population to go up to 1,221,751, constituting 44 per cent of the total Omani population of 2,804,117 until the end of 2021.

The number of Omani youth – 18 to 29 years – was 544,983, representing 19.4 per cent of the total Omani population.