Snap. I think I went through most of Africa before I stumbled on the right part of the world purely by chance. With 30 seconds to go I had 1 of the left column.
After seeing the answers it makes some sense, with the huge influx of foreign workers to the area following the spike in oil prices in the 60s and 70s.
@Kalbahamut The oil price surge is a factor but I think it's more about the fact that four of the ten countries in the left column didn't even exist in 1970, and were poulated at the time mostly by nomads and small groups of warring tribes. These four all gained independence in late 1971/early 1972 if my memory didn't fail me. Two of the other six gained independence in the 60s.
Small groups of warring tribes? The 1950s want their worldview back. Everything to do with: 1) the spike in oil and gas prices; 2) the increased state capture of those oil revenues (and spin-off benefits to particular national favourites in the private sector); 3) the Gulf's model of development/accumulation through the use of temporary foreign labour.
They found oil in the 1930s. It wasn't until 1973 following King Faisal and OPEC's oil embargo against those they saw as supporting Israel's right to defend itself that the price of a barrel of oil quadrupled and these countries started to become very wealthy.
It also helps that the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, etc. are recruting a lot of Indians to do build their cities, Palm Jumeirah, World Cup stadiums, etc. by promising them wages that seem high in India and then essentially putting them in slavery.
No country in the left column except one - Jordan - has anything to do with those wars regarding their population increase. All those gulf states simply rose in population by taking in a bunch of South Asian migrants (practically slaves) as labour force in their oil fields and construction sites.
As Nerd0921 correctly stated, the population growth in these particular countries (though they are located near and at least partially involved in these conflicts) has nothing to do with (taking in) refugees, except for Jordan.
Very interesting quiz! Got all but two (Gambia and Ivory Coast.) The right column was easy. For the left, I figured they'd be comparatively small countries (for percentage to have an impact) and probably in the Islamic world (generally high fertility rates) plus experiencing huge changes (migrant workforce, wealth, something like that.) Once Qatar worked, the rest came pretty easily -- basically it seems to be a mix of high birthrate and workforce / migrant increase against a backdrop of small original numbers. The only total outlier is Ivory Coast (not small, not majority Muslim, and as far as I know not a migrant worker destination).
The answers have shifted somewhat in the last 7 years. I don't know what the bottom 3 answers on the left were before, but now, the top 9 are all countries that had relatively small populations in 1970 but that then took on massive numbers of immigrant workers over the following decades. And then there's Niger, which has had very little immigration as far as I know but also has one of the highest birth rates in the world, but I think is only guessed so highly due to the fact that you can't spell Nigeria without it.
Nope that's not how it's done. South Sudan is just the newest country but there have been plenty others since 1970 (Russia ...). Either you use data by region (very easy in cases like Yugoslavia and USSR where borders are pretty much intact, in extreme cases you have to check raw data and recalculate), or it's "no data"
would this also include displacement due to war? Jordan has taken in many Syrian refugees lately and the same happens in parts of Africa due to violence in Nigeria and other countries.
Yes, but that's not the reason these countries appear on the list. High birth rate is the predominant factor. In the Gulf states, there has also been a huge influx of migrant labor.
But are they temporary or permanent residents? I know Qatar for instance has lots of foreign laborers since they'll be hosting the world cup in a few years. When the construction is complete I assume they'll be sent home (if they survived the working conditions in Qatar).
But maybe that number pales in comparison to the rest of the migrant workers on other projects in Qatar.
Don't know how "population" is calculated in each case, but I'd guess that, while migrant workers might not be counted in some places like Qatar, long-term residents without citizenship would be included in the figures. There are a lot of long-term residents from India, Pakistan etc in those countries who run and own (or co-own) businesses and would presumably count, even if migrant construction workers, sweepers, etc aren't counted.
I was just gonna comment on this. It's kinda insane, but it also kinda makes sense given that: 1. the UAE was just a small, mostly unhabited patch of desert in 1970 and now is an incredibly wealthy, urbanized state. 2. the UAE has TONS of migrant workers who are only arrived recently.
I managed to get none from the % I had typed bahrain, but obviously made a typo or hadnt deleted all the letters of my previous guess. Had that one worked, I would have tried more in the region.
I got all the ones by numbers than spent at least a minute getting none right in the percent column... then I got all the Gulf States and the rest of the Middle East (+Djibouti), but I never would have gotten Gambia or Cote d'Ivoire. Nice quiz!
What the heck are all those people doing for a living in Djibouti? The only professions there are animal herding and salt mining. (It IS obvious where they're all immigrating from, though.)
From Wikipedia: "Djibouti is strategically located near some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, controlling access to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. It serves as a key refuelling and transshipment center, and is the principal maritime port for imports from and exports to neighboring Ethiopia. A burgeoning commercial hub, the nation is the site of various foreign military bases, including Camp Lemonnier."
So, probably a lot of jobs are involved with transportation, shipping, and service industries.
It's interesting, that the two columns have no countries in common. That shows that the reasons for the population growth are wildly different, since the percentages in the first column could never be achieved by a high birthrate.
I think, almost all of the "new citizen" from the first row originate in countries from the second row, who left their country for work.
But maybe that number pales in comparison to the rest of the migrant workers on other projects in Qatar.
I think this accounts for most of the increase.
So, probably a lot of jobs are involved with transportation, shipping, and service industries.
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I think, almost all of the "new citizen" from the first row originate in countries from the second row, who left their country for work.