Forth is Qatar
It’s not only last year’s oversupply and demand crises, which was exacerbated by COVID-19: oil prices have been falling steadily and sometimes dramatically since the mid-2010s. A Qatari citizen’s per-capita GDP was above $143,222 in 2014, but it was “only” $97,846 a year later, and it is currently considerably lower.
Nonetheless, the country’s oil, gas, and petrochemical reserves are so vast, and the country’s population is so small—just 2.8 million—that this marvel of ultramodern architecture, luxury shopping malls, and excellent cuisine has managed to lead the list of the world’s richest nations for the last 20 years.
Despite the fact that just roughly 12% of the population is Qatari, the country, like many other Gulf nations, saw COVID-19 spread rapidly among low-income migrant laborers living in overcrowded conditions. Despite the fact that Qatar has been subjected to several quarantines, curfews, and lockdowns, the country has one of the highest percentages of positive cases in the area.
Despite this, the economy has shown some resilience (it shrank by just 2.6 percent in 2020) and is now expected to revive as gas output and investment increase in preparation for the 2022 World Cup.