State of Qatar
Asia Occidental
Desert · Opulent · Modern
Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup — becoming the first Middle Eastern and first Muslim-majority country to do so — and built entirely new stadiums in a desert, including the Al Bayt stadium shaped like a traditional Bedouin tent.
Más allá de la capital, las principales ciudades son Al Rayyan, Al Wakrah — cada una un centro de cultura regional, economía e historia. Doha's skyline of glass towers rising from the desert along West Bay created itself within 30 years — a fishing village transformed by petroleum revenues into the Middle East's most ambitious city-building project, whose Museum of Islamic Art (designed by I.M. Pei) anchors a waterfront corniche where the 7-kilometre Doha Pearl artificial island development represents the scale of ambition that petrodollar wealth enables.
El idioma oficial es árabe, que refleja el patrimonio cultural del país y lo conecta con una amplia comunidad internacional. Internacionalmente, Catar se contacta mediante el código +974. Qatari nationals constitute only 11% of a population of 2.7 million — the world's highest proportion of migrant workers (89%) — with Bangladeshi, Indian, Nepali, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Filipino workers building, driving, cooking, and cleaning in a country whose kafala sponsorship system that ties workers to employers was only partially reformed following international criticism during the FIFA World Cup 2022 construction scrutiny.
Catar comparte sus fronteras con Arabia Saudí. El tráfico rodado circula por la derecha, en consonancia con la convención de
La vida económica y cotidiana se rige por la zona horaria de UTC+03:00, alineando el país con sus vecinos regionales.
Machboos is Qatar's national dish — saffron-perfumed rice with camel, lamb, or fish, flavoured with dried lime and spiced with bezar (a Gulf spice blend of coriander, turmeric, cumin, and other aromatics), served with tomato-based daqoos sauce — a preparation that shares techniques with similar rice dishes across the Gulf while the specific spice combinations and serving customs distinguish Qatari preparation.
Qatar's 2022 FIFA World Cup was the first held in a Middle Eastern country and the first in winter (November-December) due to the desert summer heat — a tournament that drew global attention to migrant worker conditions in Qatar while simultaneously showcasing the country's ability to deliver world-class infrastructure, and whose Lusail Stadium hosted the Argentina-France final watched by a global audience of 1.5 billion.
The Inland Sea (Khor al Adaid) is a tidal inlet penetrating 10 kilometres into Qatar from the Gulf, surrounded by 60-metre red sand dunes — one of the world's few places where sea and desert meet dramatically, accessible only by 4WD vehicle through the dunes, and whose status as a UNESCO recognised natural area protects hawksbill sea turtle nesting beaches on its shore.