Youthful Oman

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Oman's population is very young. Thanks to consistent investment in the health sector, the infant mortality rate has fallen dramatically from 118 per thousand births in 1970. Today, statistically speaking, only seven children die for every 1,000 births. Accordingly, the average number of children per household has risen to between six and eight. Half of Omanis are therefore children and adolescents. This demographic peculiarity presents the country with the challenge of providing sufficient training and jobs. Since the early 1970s, Oman has continuously invested heavily in education and training and for almost two decades has regulated the allocation of jobs primarily to Omani citizens through successively increasing quotas.
This »Omanisation« has meant that in some sectors of the economy, where only twenty years ago migrant workers were predominantly employed, Omani nationals now work almost exclusively – this also affects low-wage sectors such as supermarket checkout staff.