Demographics of Bahrain explained

The demographics of the population of Bahrain includes population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

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

Ethnic groups

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".^[1] These may be classified as:

Community	Description
	The indigenous inhabitants of Bahrain. The overwhelming majority are Shia.
Ajams (Iranic and Iranian roots)	Iranic Lurs (Shia), Achomis (Sunni, Shia), Baluchs (Sunnis), Turkic; Azeris, Qashqai...
	Jews have inhabited Bahrain for centuries. Most native Bahraini Jews are of Mesopotamian and Persian descent.
	Sunni Arabs who re-migrated back from the southern coasts of Iran
Tribal Arabs	Urbanized Sunni Bahrainis of Bedouin ancestry, such as the Utoob, Dawasir etc.
Najdis	Non-tribal urban Sunni Arabs from Najd in central Arabia.
	Descendants of Africans, primarily from East Africa and of mostly Sunni faith
Banyan (Bania)	Indians who traded with Bahrain and settled before the age of oil (formerly known as the Hunood or Banyan, ar|البونيان), of mostly Hindu faith.

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 2012 roughly 350,000 Indians,^[3] 150,000 Bangladeshis,^[4] 110,000 Pakistanis,^[5] 40,000 Filipinos,^[6] and 8,000 Indonesians. In 2023, about 4,000 people from the United Kingdom live in Bahrain,^[7] although some estimates are double this number.^[8]

	Population	Percentage
Bahraini	712,362
Other Arabs	86,823
African	21,502
North American	16,415
Asian	650,996
European	11,750
Others	1,787
total	1,501,635

Population

Population census

Population of Bahrain according to nationality 1941-2010^[9]

census year	Bahraini		non-Bahraini		total population
		%		%
1941	74,040		15,930		89,970
1950	91,179		18,471		109,650
1959	118,734		24,401		143,135
1965	143,814		38,389		182,203
1971	178,193		37,885		216,078
1981	238,420		112,378		350,798
1991	323,305		184,732		508,037
2001	405,667		244,937		650,604
2010	568,399		666,172		1,234,571
2020	712,362		789,273		1,501,635

Population estimates on July 1

[10] [11]	Bahraini	Non-Bahraini	Total	% Non-Bahraini
2001	409,619	251,698	661,317
2002	427,246	283,307	710,554
2003	445,634	318,888	764,519
2004	464,808	358,936	823,744
2005	484,810	404,013	888,824
2006	505,673	454,752	960,425
2007	527,433	511,864	1,039,297
2008	541,587	561,909	1,103,496
2009	558,011	620,404	1,178,415
2010	570,687	657,856	1,228,543
2011	584,688	610,332	1,195,020
2012	599,629	609,335	1,208,964
2013	614,830	638,361	1,253,191
2014	630,744	683,818	1,314,562
2015	647,835	722,487	1,370,322
2016	664,707	759,019	1,423,726
2017	677,506	823,610	1,501,116
2018	689,417	813,377	1,502,794
2019	701,827	781,929	1,483,756
2020	713,263	758,941	1,472,204
2021	719,333	785,032	1,504,365

Vital statistics

UN estimates

Period[12]	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.

[13] [14] [15]	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
2022	1,524,693
2023	1,577,059
2024	1,588,670

Structure of the population

Population by Sex and Age Group (Census 17.III.2020):^[16]

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

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^[17]

Genetics

See also: Genetic history of the Middle East and Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup.

Haplogroups

Y-chromosome DNA

Y-Chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) represents the male lineage. In 2020, a study was made on 562 unrelated Bahraini males.^[18] Paternal population structure within Bahrain was investigated using the 27 Y-STRs (short tandem repeats) in the Yfiler Plus kit to generate haplotypes from 562 unrelated Bahraini males, sub-divided into four geographical regions—Northern, Capital, Southern and Muharraq.

Haplogroup prediction indicated diverse origins of the population with a predominance of haplogroups J2 and J1, but also haplogroups such as B2 and E1b1a likely originating in Africa, and H, L and R2 likely indicative of migration from South Asia. Haplogroup frequencies differed significantly between regions, with J2 significantly more common in the Northern region compared with the Southern, possibly due to differential settlement by Baharna, Ajams and Arabs.Haplogroup prediction suggests that haplogroup J2 is the most common in the Bahraini population (It is thought that J-M172 may have originated in the Caucasus, Anatolia or Western Iran) encompassing 27.6% of the sample, followed by J1 (23.0%), E1b1b (8.9%), E1b1a (8.6%) and R1a (8.4%), with other predicted haplogroups (G, T, L, R1b, Q, R2, B2, E2, H and C) occurring at progressively lower frequencies.Haplogroup J1 is most frequent in the Southern Governorate (27%) where the highest proportion of Arabs live, and in the Muharraq Governorate (27%) where many migrant Huwala Arabs resettled, and it declines to its lowest frequency in the Northern and Capital Governorates (21% and 19%).

By contrast, the Northern and Capital Governorates where the Baharna and Ajam are most represented show higher frequencies of haplogroup J2 (34% and 31%) than in Muharraq and the Southern Governorate (both 17%).

Religion

See main article: Religion in Bahrain.

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

	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. Current census data does not differentiate between the other religions in Bahrain, but in 2022, the country was approximately 12%^[19] Christian and had about 40^{[19] [20]} Jewish citizens.

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%.^{[21] [22]}

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.^[22] Of these, 50.9% are Muslim and 49.1% are non-Muslim,^[22] 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
• Italian
• Spanish

See also

• Bahranis

References

Sources

• 2003 U.S. Department of State website

Notes and References

1. Web site: BAHRAIN . 2024-12-03 . www.solarnavigator.net.
2. Web site: Bahrain. September 27, 2021. Central Intelligence Agency. CIA.gov.
3. Web site: Information Wing: Indian Community. 2021-10-27. eoi.gov.in.
4. Web site: Relation. 2021-10-27. Embassy of Bangladesh in Bahrain. en-US. 2021-10-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20211027113938/http://www.bdembassy.org.bh/the-embassy/relation/. dead.
5. Web site: Archived copy . www.mofa.gov.pk . 11 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190401132152/http://www.mofa.gov.pk/documents/handbook.pdf . 1 April 2019 . dead.
6. News: Filipinos etching credible mark in Bahrain. Hampton. Maricar. 6 July 2012. FilAm Star. 6 January 2013.
7. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/bahrain UK Government website, Retrieved 2023-08-01
8. https://britishexpatguide.co.uk/guides/moving-to-bahrain-from-uk/ British Expat Guide website, Retrieved 2023-08-01
9. Web site: Archived copy . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150128142310/http://www.moh.gov.bh/PDF/Publications/Statistics/HS2011/PDF/CH-02%20census_2011.pdf . 28 January 2015 . 17 January 2022 . www.moh.gov.bh.
10. http://www.cio.gov.bh/StatPublication/11RecurrentRequest/AdjPop2001-2007.pdf Sources: Bahrain Central Informatics Organization, population estimate July 1 of each year
11. Web site: Sources: Bahrain Information and eGovernment Authority, Bahrain Open Data Portal, population estimate July 1 of each year . 2023-07-03 . 2023-07-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230703180743/https://bahrain.opendatasoft.com/explore/dataset/mid-year-population-by-nationality-and-sex/table/?sort=year . dead .
12. Web site: World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110506065230/http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/index.htm . 2011-05-06 . 2013-05-11.
13. http://www.moh.gov.bh/AR/aboutMOH/Statistics.aspx
14. Web site: 2 January 2018 . Live births, deaths, and infant deaths, latest available year (2002–2016) . United Nations Statistics Division.
15. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2.htm#2001 United nations. Demographic Yearbooks
16. Web site: UNSD - Demographic and Social Statistics .
17. Web site: World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations. 2017-07-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20160919061238/https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/DataQuery/. 2016-09-19. dead.
18. Al-Snan . Noora R. . Messaoudi . Safia A. . Khubrani . Yahya M. . Wetton . Jon H. . Jobling . Mark A. . Bakhiet . Moiz . 2020 . Geographical structuring and low diversity of paternal lineages in Bahrain shown by analysis of 27 Y-STRs . Molecular Genetics and Genomics . 295 . 6 . 1315–1324 . 10.1007/s00438-020-01696-4 . 1617-4615 . 7524810 . 32588126.
19. https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/bahrain US State Dept 2022 report
20. News: Low profile but welcome: a Jewish outpost in the Gulf. Independent. 2 Nov 2007. 16 March 2012. 24 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181224183810/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/low-profile-but-welcome-a-jewish-outpost-in-the-gulf-398656.html. dead.
21. Web site: Population and Demographics - Ministry of Information Affairs Kingdom of Bahrain. 2020-11-06. en-US. 2020-11-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20201110161444/https://www.mia.gov.bh/kingdom-of-bahrain/population-and-demographics/?lang=en. dead.
22. Web site: Kingdom of Bahrain Open Data Portal: Archived copy . 2021-05-02 . 2021-05-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210502014151/https://www.data.gov.bh/en/ResourceCenter/DownloadFile?id=3582 . dead .
23. Qubain, Fahim Issa (1955) “Social Classes and Tensions in Bahrain.” The Middle East Journal 9, no. 3: 269–280, p. 270
24. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bh0022) Bahrain Country Study
25. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/25/world/1981-plot-in-bahrain-linked-to-iranians.html 1981 Plot in Bahrain linked to Iranians
26. [Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]