Oil and gas have made Qatar the richest country in
the world - rich enough to be ready, apparently, to spend $200bn (£120bn) on
stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. But has virtually limitless
wealth brought the country happiness?
It's still cool enough to sit outside in Qatar's
capital, Doha. In another few weeks it will be too hot and most people - those
who don't have to work outside - will be retreating indoors to the comfort of
air-conditioning.
For now, though, families relax in the afternoon sun
on the waterfront promenade, the Corniche. The view has changed beyond
recognition in the last few years. Glass and steel towers rise like an
artificial forest from what was once a shoreline of flat sand.
"We have become urban," says Dr Kaltham Al
Ghanim, a sociology professor at Qatar University. "Our social and
economic life has changed - families have become separated, consumption culture
has taken over."
Qatar's government puts a positive spin on the pace
of change.
From desperate poverty less than a century ago,
this, after all, has become the richest nation in the world, with an average
per-capita income topping $100,000 (£60,000).
What's less well understood is the impact of such
rapid change on Qatari society itself.
You can feel the pressure in Doha. The city is a
building site, with whole districts either under construction or being
demolished for redevelopment. Constantly snarled traffic adds hours to the
working week, fuelling stress and impatience.
Local media report that 40% of Qatari marriages now
end in divorce. More than two-thirds of Qataris, adults and children, are
obese.
Qataris benefit from free education, free
healthcare, job guarantees, grants for housing, even free water and electricity,
but abundance has created its own problems.
"It's bewildering for students to graduate and
be faced with 20 job offers," one academic at an American university
campus in Qatar tells me. "People feel an overwhelming pressure to make
the right decision." Read more…
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