Development and Fertility Decline in the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: The Case of the United Arab Emirates

The Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Oman have developed rapidly since the second half of the 20^th century, due to the increase of oil and gas revenues. The governments invested in major projects, which aimed at building the countries’ infrastructure, economy, and people. The GCC countries completely transitioned from traditional into advanced societies reaching high levels on the Human Development Index. Such development has contributed to fertility declines. In 1995, fertility rates were very high with 6.5 children per woman in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman, but in 2022 fertility rates declined threefold among them to less than 2 children per woman in all the GCC countries except Saudi Arabia (2.4) and Oman (2.7). The main objective of the research is to show the effect of some socio-economic factors on the decline in fertility rates of the GCC countries using historical and topical approaches. In addition, analytical techniques are used to analyze two questionnaires conducted in 2005 and 2020 to determine the effects of socioeconomic factors such as marital age, education, work status, and income on declining fertility in the United Arab Emirates.