Economy
All of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf have significant revenues from oil and gas and, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, have small local populations. This has raised their per capita incomes above those of neighboring countries. To meet the labor shortages, they host large numbers of temporary non-citizen economic migrants from South Asia and Southeast Asia. In the past there have also been a significant number of immigrants from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Egypt.
In addition, pearl diving and the pearl industry had been the main economic activity of many of these countries, particularly Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait. The pearling industry collapsed in the 1930s after the development of cultured pearl methods by Japanese scientists.
Read more about this topic: Arab States Of The Persian Gulf
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