Muscat – Tolerance towards expatriates in Oman remains consistently high, according to the 2025 Public Survey on Tolerance conducted by National Centre for Statistics and Information.

Conducted between January 13 and 23, the survey found that 90.9% of expatriate respondents viewed Omani society as tolerant, a slight rise from 90.7% recorded in 2024. The Tolerance Index, which measures expatriate acceptance and integration, increased 0.2% compared to the previous survey.

Among the key findings, 95.6% of expatriates said they had not experienced discrimination or mistreatment by Omanis, up from 93.6% a year earlier. Meanwhile, 90.4% of respondents felt accepted by society despite cultural differences, though slightly down from 92% in 2024.

In terms of freedom of expression, 86.7% of expatriates reported feeling free to express their views on everyday topics, a figure almost unchanged from 86.6% last year.

The survey highlighted variations based on gender and age. Male expatriates reported higher non-discrimination levels at 96.5%, compared to 93.4% among females. Expatriates over 50 years of age recorded the highest rate of non-discrimination at 97.5%, followed by 96.5% among those aged 18–29 and 95% for the 30–49 age group.

On societal acceptance, 93.9% of female expatriates reported feeling accepted, compared to 89.2% of males. Acceptance was highest among expatriates over 50 at 94.6%, while the 18–29 age group recorded the lowest at 86.8%.

Regarding freedom of expression, 87.1% of male expatriates said they felt free to express their opinions, compared to 85.8% of females. Expatriates aged over 50 showed the highest levels of freedom at 89.6%, more than those aged 30–49 at 86.2% and the 18–29 group at 85.9%.

The Tolerance Index is based on three main indicators – absence of discrimination, societal acceptance of expatriates despite cultural differences, and freedom of expression on everyday issues.

The poll was conducted through telephone interviews using an electronic questionnaire covering a simple random sample of 1,425 expatriates of different genders and age groups across all governorates.