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Qatar

Qatar · Asia

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Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares its sole land border with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. The Gulf of Bahrain, an inlet of the Persian Gulf, separates Qatar from nearby Bahrain. The capital is Doha, home to over 80% of the country's inhabitants. Most of the land area is made up of flat, low-lying desert. Qatar has been ruled as a hereditary monarchy by the House of Thani since Mohammed bin Thani signed an agreement with Britain in 1868, that officially recognised its separate status. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in 1916 and gained independence in 1971. The current emir is Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who, like previous emirs, holds nearly all executive, legislative, and judicial authority in an autocratic manner under the Constitution of Qatar. He appoints the prime minister and cabinet. The Shura Council (also known as the "Consultative Assembly") has a limited ability to block legislation and dismiss ministers, but is fully appointed by the emir, who also has the last say on these decisions. While Qatar held a partial Shura Council election in 2021, with two thirds of seats elected, in 2024 it moved to abolish those elections altogether, and reverted to a fully appointed Council. On June 21, 2026, the population of Qatar was 3,180,059, although 3.02 million are foreign expatriates and migrant workers. Its official religion is Islam. The country

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