Demographics of Bahrain

"Bahrainis" redirects here. For the indigenous inhabitants of Bahrain, see Baharna.

This is a demography of the population of Bahrain including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Demographics of Bahrain
Population	1,472,380(2022 est.)
Growth rate	0.88% (2022 est.)
Birth rate	12.4 births/1,000 population
Death rate	2.82 deaths/1,000 population
Life expectancy	79.9 years
• male	77.63 years
• female	82.24 years
Fertility rate	1.67
Infant mortality rate	10.19 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	-0.82 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Nationality
Nationality	Bahraini
Major ethnic	Bahraini - 46%
Language
Official	Arabic
Spoken	Arabic

Demographics of Bahrain, Data of FAO, year 2005 ; Number of permanent inhabitants in thousands.

Most of the population of Bahrain is concentrated in the two principal cities, Manama and Al Muharraq.

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups in Bahrain (2020)^[1]
Ethnic groups
Bahraini			47.4%
Asian (mostly South Asia )			43.4%
other Arabs			5.8%
African			1.4%
European			0.8%
North Americans			1.1%
Others			0.1%

See also: Ethnic, cultural and religious groups of Bahrain

Regarding the ethnicity of Bahrainis, a Financial Times article published on 31 May 1983 found that "Bahrain is a polyglot state, both religiously and racially. Discounting temporary immigrants of the past ten years, there are at least eight or nine communities on the island". These may be classified as:

Community	Description
Afro-Arabs	Descendants of Africans, primarily from East Africa and of mostly Sunni faith
Ajam of Bahrain	Persians of Shia faith, a minority are from the Baháʼí Faith.
Baharna	The indigenous inhabitants of Bahrain. The overwhelming majority are Shia.
Banyan (Bania)	Indians who traded with Bahrain and settled before the age of oil (formerly known as the Hunood or Banyan, Arabic: البونيان), of mostly Hindu faith
Bahraini Jews	Jews have inhabited Bahrain for centuries. Most native Bahraini Jews are of Mesopotamian and Persian descent.
Hola	Sunni Arabs from Persia
Tribal	Urbanized Sunni Bahrainis of Bedouin ancestry, such as the Utoob, Dawasir etc.

Non-nationals make up more than half of the population of Bahrain, with immigrants making up about 52.6% of the overall population.^[2] Of those, the vast majority come from South and Southeast Asia: according to various media reports and government statistics dated between 2005 and 2009 roughly 350,000 Indians,^[3] 150,000 Bangladeshis,^[4] 110,000 Pakistanis,^[5] 45,000 Filipinos,^[6] and 8,000 Indonesians.^[7] 11,000 people from the United Kingdom live in Bahrain, 0.73% of its total population.^[8]

^[9]	Bahraini	Other Arabs	African	North American	Asian	European	Others	TOTAL
Population	712,362	86,823	21,502	16,415	650,996	11,750	1,787	1,501,635
Percentage	47.4%	5.8%	1.4%	1.1%	43.4%	0.8%	0.1%	100%

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1950	116,000	—
1960	162,000	+39.7%
1970	212,000	+30.9%
1980	358,000	+68.9%
1990	493,000	+37.7%
2000	638,000	+29.4%
2010	1,262,000	+97.8%
2020	1,501,635	+19.0%
Source:^[10]

Population census

Population of Bahrain according to nationality 1941-2010^[11]

census year	Bahraini		non-Bahraini		Total population
	Number	%	Number	%	Number
1941	74,040	82.3	15,930	17.7	89,970
1950	91,179	83.2	18,471	16.8	109,650
1959	118,734	83.0	24,401	17.0	143,135
1965	143,814	78.9	38,389	21.1	182,203
1971	178,193	82.5	37,885	17.5	216,078
1981	238,420	68.0	112,378	32.0	350,798
1991	323,305	63.6	184,732	36.4	508,037
2001	405,667	62.4	244,937	37.6	650,604
2010	568,399	46.0	666,172	54.0	1,234,571
2020	712,362	47.4	789,273	52.6	1,501,635

Population estimates on July 1

^[12]	Bahraini	Non-Bahraini	Total	% Non-Bahraini
2001	409,619	251,698	661,317	38.1%
2002	427,246	283,307	710,554	39.9%
2003	445,634	318,888	764,519	41.7%
2004	464,808	358,936	823,744	43.6%
2005	484,810	404,013	888,824	45.5%
2006	505,673	454,752	960,425	47.3%
2007	527,433	511,864	1,039,297	49.3%
2008	541,587	561,909	1,103,496	50.9%
2009	558,011	620,404	1,178,415	52.6%
2010	570,687	657,856	1,228,543	53.5%
2011	584,688	610,332	1,195,020	51.1%
2012	599,629	609,335	1,208,964	50.4%
2013	614,830	638,361	1,253,191	50.9%
2014	630,744	683,818	1,314,562	52.0%
2015	647,835	722,487	1,370,322	52.7%
2016	664,707	759,019	1,423,726	53.3%
2017	677,506	823,610	1,501,116	54.9%
2018	689,417	813,377	1,502,794	54.1%

Vital statistics

UN estimates

Period^[13]	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR*	CDR*	NC*	TFR*	IMR*
1950-1955	6,000	3,000	3,000	45.0	21.6	23.4	6.97	183
1955-1960	7,000	3,000	4,000	45.7	17.7	27.9	6.97	156
1960-1965	8,000	2,000	6,000	45.7	12.6	33.2	7.18	112
1965-1970	8,000	2,000	7,000	41.6	8.7	32.9	6.97	74
1970-1975	8,000	2,000	7,000	35.2	6.5	28.6	5.95	49
1975-1980	10,000	2,000	9,000	33.0	4.8	28.1	5.23	33
1980-1985	13,000	2,000	11,000	32.9	4.1	28.8	4.63	22
1985-1990	14,000	2,000	13,000	31.3	3.6	27.7	4.08	16
1990-1995	14,000	2,000	12,000	26.3	3.3	23.1	3.35	14
1995-2000	14,000	2,000	12,000	23.1	3.2	19.9	2.89	11
2000-2005	14,000	2,000	12,000	21.1	3.0	18.1	2.62	9
2005-2010	21,000	3,000	18,000	20.7	2.8	18.0	2.63	7
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Registered data

Birth registration of Bahrain is available from 1976, death registration started in 1990. Between 1976 and 2011 the number of baby births roughly doubled but the birth rate of babies decreased from 32 to 13 per 1,000. The death rate of Bahrain (1.9 per 1,000 human beings in 2011) is among the lowest in the world.

^[14]^[15]^[16]	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total Fertility Rate per woman
1965		5,150
1966		4,860
1967		5,179
1968		5,274
1971		6,404
1972		7,274
1973		7,679
1974		7,612
1975		7,767
1976	282,000	8,984			31.8
1977	302,000	9,058	872	8,186	30.0	2.9	27.1
1978	322,000	9,398	1,002	8,396	29.2	3.1	26.1
1979	341,000	9,664	1,037	8,627	28.3	3.0	25.3
1980	358,000	10,140	1,085	9,055	28.3	3.0	25.3
1981	372,000	10,300	1,065	9,235	27.7	2.9	24.8
1982	384,000	11,037	1,119	9,918	28.8	2.9	25.9
1983	394,000	11,431	1,064	10,367	29.0	2.7	26.3
1984	405,000	11,519	1,303	10,216	28.5	3.2	25.3
1985	417,000	12,314	1,212	11,102	29.5	2.9	26.6
1986	431,000	12,893	1,423	11,470	29.9	3.3	26.6
1987	446,000	12,699	1,584	11,115	28.5	3.6	24.9
1988	462,000	12,555	1,523	11,032	27.2	3.3	23.9
1989	478,000	13,611	1,551	12,060	28.5	3.2	25.3
1990	493,000	13,370	1,552	11,818	27.1	3.1	24.0
1991	503,052	13,229	1,744	11,485	26.1	3.4	22.7
1992	516,458	13,874	1,760	12,114	26.7	3.4	23.3
1993	530,225	14,191	1,714	12,477	26.7	3.2	23.5
1994	544,366	13,766	1,695	12,071	25.2	3.1	22.1
1995	558,879	13,481	1,910	11,571	24.1	3.4	20.7
1996	573,792	13,123	1,780	11,343	22.8	3.1	19.7
1997	589,115	13,382	1,822	11,560	22.6	3.1	19.5
1998	604,842	13,381	1,997	11,384	21.9	3.3	18.6
1999	620,989	14,280	1,920	12,360	22.8	3.1	19.7	2.900
2000	637,582	13,947	2,045	11,902	21.9	3.2	18.7	2.800
2001	661,317	13,468	1,979	11,489	21.0	3.1	17.9	2.600
2002	710,554	13,576	2,035	11,541	21.1	3.2	17.9	2.400
2003	764,519	14,560	2,114	12,446	22.5	3.3	19.2	2.400
2004	823,744	14,968	2,215	12,753	22.3	3.3	19.0	2.300
2005	888,824	15,198	2,222	12,976	21.0	3.1	17.9	2.100
2006	960,425	15,053	2,317	12,736	18.6	2.9	15.7	2.000
2007	1,039,297	16,062	2,270	13,792	17.4	2.5	14.9	1.964
2008	1,103,496	17,022	2,390	14,632	16.2	2.3	13.9	1.968
2009	1,178,415	17,841	2,387	15,454	15.1	2.0	13.1	1.951
2010	1,228,543	18,150	2,401	15,749	14.8	2.0	12.8	1.877
2011	1,195,020	17,573	2,528	15,045	14.7	2.1	12.6	1.967
2012	1,208,964	19,119	2,613	16,506	15.8	2.2	13.6	2.134
2013	1,253,191	19,995	2,588	17,407	16.0	2.1	13.9	2.157
2014	1,314,562	20,931	2,805	18,126	15.9	2.1	13.8	2.108
2015	1,370,322	20,983	2,787	18,196	15.3	2.1	13.2	2.093
2016	1,423,726	20,714	2,858	17,856	14.5	2.0	12.5	1.984
2017	1,501,116	20,581	2,902	17,679	13.7	1.9	11.8	1.945
2018	1,503,091	19,740	3,052	16,668	13.1	2.0	11.1	1.838
2019	1,483,756	18,611	3,010	15,601	12.5	2.0	10.5	1.744
2020	1,472,204	18,042	3,488	14,554	12.3	2.4	9.9	1.846
2021	1,504,365

Structure of the population

Population by Sex and Age Group (Census 17.III.2020):^[9][17]

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	942,895	558,740	1,501,635	100
0-4	52,591	51,012	103,603	6.90
5-9	53,578	51,416	104,994	6.99
10-14	47,812	45,864	93,676	6.24
15-19	41,062	38,276	79,338	5.28
20-24	60,706	40,725	101,431	6.75
25-29	101,401	54,679	156,080	10.39
30-34	154,215	57,757	211,972	14.12
35-39	134,083	51,794	185,877	12.38
40-44	95,104	44,385	139,489	9.29
45-49	70,467	33,509	103,976	6.92
50-54	49,621	27,786	77,407	5.15
55-59	34,498	23,095	57,593	3.84
60-64	22,418	16,353	38,771	2.58
65-69	12,499	9,200	16,877	1.44
70-74	6,184	5,177	11,361	0.76
75-79	3,216	3,363	6,579	0.44
80-84	2,002	2,452	4,454	0.30
85+	1,438	1,897	3,335	0.22
Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	153,981	148,292	302,273	20.13
15-64	763,575	388,359	1,151,934	76.71
65+	25,339	22,089	47,428	3.16

Life expectancy

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	43.0	1985–1990	71.8
1955–1960	48.5	1990–1995	72.9
1960–1965	55.3	1995–2000	73.9
1965–1970	61.1	2000–2005	74.9
1970–1975	65.4	2005–2010	75.7
1975–1980	68.3	2010–2015	76.4
1980–1985	70.5

Source: UN World Population Prospects^[18]

Religion

See also: Freedom of religion in Bahrain and Islam in Bahrain

^[9]	Men	Women	Total	Bahraini	Non-Bahraini
Muslims	674,329	437,204	1,111,533	710,067	401,466
Others	268,566	121,536	390,102	2,295	387,807
Total	942,895	558,740	1,501,635	712,362	789,273
Muslim %			74.0%	99.7%	50.9%

Islam is the official religion forming 74% of the population.^[9] Current census data does not differentiate between the other religions in Bahrain, but the country has about 9%^[19] Christian citizens and about 40^[20] Jewish citizens.^[21]

According to the website of Ministry of Information Affairs, 74% of the population are Muslim, with Christians being the second largest religious group, forming 10.2% of the population, Jews making up 0.21%. The percentage of local Bahraini Christians, Jews, Hindus and Baha’is is collectively 0.2%.^[22][9]

Bahraini citizens of Muslim faith belong to the Shi'a and Sunni branches of Islam. The last official census (1941) to include sectarian identification reported 52% (88,298 citizens) as Shia and 48% as Sunni of the Muslim population.^[23] Unofficial sources, such as the Library of Congress Country Studies,^[24] and The New York Times,^[25] estimate sectarian identification to be approximately 45% Sunni and 55% Shia. An official Bahraini document revealed that 51% of the country's citizens are Sunnis, while the Shiite population has declined to 49% of the Muslim population.^[26]

Foreigners, overwhelmingly from South Asia and other Arab countries, constituted 52.6% of the population in 2020.^[9] Of these, 50.9% are Muslim and 49.1% are non-Muslim,^[9] including Christians (primarily: Catholic, Protestant, Syriac Orthodox, and Mar Thoma from South India), Hindus, Buddhists, Baháʼís, and Sikhs.

Languages

Arabic

English

Persian

Kurdish

Malayalam

Urdu

Balochi

Konkani

Hindi

Sinhalese

Tamil

Punjabi

Bengali

Armenian

Filipino

See also

• Bahranis

References

Notes

1. "Middle East ::BAHRAIN". CIA The World Factbook. 23 April 2022.
2. "Bahrain". Central Intelligence Agency. September 27, 2021 – via CIA.gov.
3. "Information Wing: Indian Community". eoi.gov.in. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
4. . Embassy of Bangladesh in Bahrain. Archived from the original on 2021-10-27. Retrieved 2021-10-27.
5. (PDF). www.mofa.gov.pk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. "Bahrain looking to hire more Filipino workers", Manila Times, 5 Feb 2009, retrieved 6 March 2012^{[permanent dead link]}
7. "Indonesians encouraged", Gulf Daily News, 2007-08-07, retrieved 2009-05-12
8. "Brits Abroad: Country-by-country". December 11, 2006 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
9. . Archived from the original on 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2021-05-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. . Archived from the original on 2011-05-07. Retrieved 2012-03-22.
11. (PDF). www.moh.gov.bh. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. Sources: Bahrain Central Informatics Organization, population estimate July 1 of each year 2008-10-30 at the Wayback Machine, and for 2008, 2009 2011-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
13. . Archived from the original on 2011-05-06. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
14. [1] 2013-05-03 at the Wayback Machine Ministry of Health Statistics
15. "Live births, deaths, and infant deaths, latest available year (2002–2016)" (PDF). United Nations Statistics Division. 2 January 2018.
16. [2] United nations. Demographic Yearbooks
17. "UNSD — Demographic and Social Statistics".
18. . Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2017-07-15.
19. "The Catholic Church in Bahrain". Catholic Church in Bahrain. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
20. . Independent. 2 Nov 2007. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
21. "International Religious Freedom Report". US State Dept. 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
22. . Archived from the original on 2020-11-10. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
23. Qubain, Fahim Issa (1955) “Social Classes and Tensions in Bahrain.” The Middle East Journal 9, no. 3: 269–280, p. 270
24. Bahrain Country Study Library of Congress
25. 1981 Plot in Bahrain linked to Iranians New York Times, 25 July 1982, retrieved 20 June 2018
26. Al Jazeera: وثيقة بحرينية: الشيعة أقل من النصف, 1973, retrieved 14 February 2021

Sources

  This article incorporates public domain material from World Factbook (2023 ed.). CIA. (Archived 2006 edition)

• 2003 U.S. Department of State website