TOP CITIES WITH HIGHEST FOREIGN POPULATION

140 Different languages are spoken by people who live in Dubai

dubai — Dubai remains the world’s most cosmopolitan city in 2018 with 83 per cent, or 2.6 million of its residents, foreign-born who speak over 140 different languages.

“Dubai is currently the world’s most cosmopolitan city, with foreign-born residents making up 83 per cent of its population. Its residents come from more than 200 countries and speak more than 140 different languages.

Following Dubai is Brussels, with a population that is 62 per cent foreign born; its inhabitants hail from approximately 140 countries and speak 86 different languages,” said global consultancy McKinsey & Co.

According to the Dubai Statistics Centre, Dubai’s population currently stands at 3.14 million as compared to 2.976 million at 2017-end. The emirate’s population jumped to 4.16 million during the peak hours in the day, the DSC said in an earlier statement.

Of the over 140 different languages spoken by Dubai’s residents, the most common languages are Arabic, English, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Bengali, Tamil, Tagalog, Chinese, Malayalam, French, German and Spanish among others.

Such a huge inflow and presence of foreigners in Dubai is not without valid reasons and the emirate is expected to remain a centre of attraction for foreigners in the years to come. McKinsey analysts believe that Dubai, along with London, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore and Tokyo, are major hubs for all types of flows such as goods, services, finance, people, data and communication.

Apart from Dubai and Brussels, according to McKinsey & Co.’s ‘Thriving amid turbulence: Imaging the cities of the future’ report, there are 11 other cities in the world in which at least a quarter of the residents are foreign born. They are Toronto, Auckland, Los Angeles, Sydney, Singapore, London, New York, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris.

2.6m Foreign-born residents are part of Dubai’s everyday life

200 Nationalities have found their living in the emirate