Qatar

Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the Arabian Peninsula's northeastern coast, sharing its only land border with Saudi Arabia and otherwise surrounded by the Persian Gulf, with Doha as its capital, home to more than eighty percent of the country's population. It operates as a unitary authoritarian semi-constitutional monarchy under the House of Thani dynasty, which has ruled since 1868; after Ottoman rule and a 1916 British protectorate agreement, Qatar declared independence on 3 September 1971, and a 1995 coup brought Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani to power, under whom Qatar adopted its first permanent constitution in 2003. The current emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has ruled since 2013 and holds nearly all executive, legislative and judicial authority, appointing the prime minister and cabinet, while a fully emir-appointed Shura Council has only limited legislative powers. Of Qatar's roughly 3.21 million residents as of 2025, about 3.02 million are foreign expatriates and migrant workers, and the country holds the world's third largest natural gas reserves.