It is not odd at all if you remember that a great majority of the Gulf states labor force are non-citizens, who are counted as part of their populations, and try to overcome certain preconceptions many have about Arabs and Muslims.
> Do they abort girl babies too? High maternal mortality rate?
No, and no.
<http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/SeriesDetail.aspx?srid=553&crid=> Series Name: Maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births
Country 1990 1995 2000 Bahrain 60 38 28 Kuwait 29 25 5 Oman 190 120 87 Qatar 41 7 Saudi Arabia 130 23 23 United Arab Emirates 26 30 54
Argentina 100 85 82 Brazil 220 260 260 China 95 60 56 Cuba 95 24 33 India 570 440 540 Iran 120 130 76 (Islamic Republic of) Israel 74 84 17 Russian Federation 75 75 67 South Africa 230 340 230 United States 12 12 17 Venezuela 120 43 96
As for sex ratios at birth, see the link that Arash provided.
On 3/20/07, Arash <arash at riseup.net> wrote:
> The link below has a listing that breaks down sex ratios by different age
> brackets. The Gulf states have normal sex ratios from birth and through to
> age 14 and then they spike in the 15-65 bracket. Yoshie's conclusion about
> the imbalance being to due a large number of male migrant laborers seems
> to be the right one.
>
> http://education.yahoo.com/reference/factbook/countrycompare/sr/1a.html;_ylt=AoXENNJ6I_zf_cvjPYTOcJzGecYF
>
Women are estimated to be about "43 percent of the foreign population in Kuwait, 33 percent of that in Saudi Arabia, about 30 percent of that in Bahrain, and 20 percent of all foreign migrants in the United Arab Emirates. Most of those female migrants were probably admitted as dependents of male migrant workers, although some may have been hired as teachers or nurses, or to work in other occupations reserved for women" (Hania Zlotnik, "The Global Dimensions of Female Migration," March 2003, <http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=109>). Men greatly outnumber women among non-citizens who work in the Gulf states, for the Gulf states' main industries are traditionally male-dominated industries, so men consequently also outnumber women in the overall populations (which comprise citizens and non-citizens) of the Gulf states, whose political economy is dependent on foreign labor*.
* "The Saudi Ministry of Labor estimated there were approximately seven million foreigners in the kingdom in 2003, making up a little less than one-third of the kingdom's total population of 23 million. Expatriate labor across all occupations and skills levels constituted around two-thirds of the total workforce and 95 percent of labor in the private sector. . . . At present, some 10 million foreigners live in GCC states, constituting a significant portion of the region's population. The presence of expatriates in these states range from 25 percent of the population in Oman to 80 percent of the population in the UAE" (Divya Pakkiasamy, "Saudi Arabia's Plan for Changing Its Workforce," November 2004, <http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=264>). -- Yoshie