Abu Dhabi vs Dubai: A tale of two emirates

Abu Dhabi vs Dubai: A tale of two emirates

As the population of Dubai hits the 2 million mark, life in Abu Dhabi seems to be getting more and more expensive, are we seeing the turn of fortunes for the two Emirates?

April 2, 2012 3:29 by kippreport

According to the numbers released by the Statistics Centre of Abu Dhabi (SCAD) the cost of living in Abu Dhabi has significantly risen. According to the data, increasing food prices has meant the cost of living has risen by almost two percent in 2011.

From 119.3 points in 2010, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen to 121.6 points in 2011: “Food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 67.7 per cent of the percentage rise in the index, due to increases in the prices of most of the subgroups falling within this group. “ Of course, the usual suspects- housing and utilities- accounted for 31.9 percent of the increase in the CPI.

And while prices seem to be soaring in Dubai’s northern neighbor, here in the Emirate of the superlatives—it is the population that is seeing a significant boost. According to data released by the Statistics Centre in Dubai, the population of permanent residents Dubai touched 2 million. At 2,027,178, there has been an increase of 27,000 people over the past three months.

And as Gulf News points out, the real interesting aspect of this data is the one million people who constitute for the floating population of the Emirate. The daytime population of Dubai stands at 3,023,426—which means a cool million people travel from other Emirates for work or other projects: “The floating population of such a high proportion suggests that Dubai continues to provide the best opportunities in terms of work, while at the same time it offers world-class services which are not so readily available in other parts of the region,” said Professor Mohammad Dulaimi, Associate Professor at the British University in Dubai told Gulf News.
Now Professor Dulaimi may pat heartily himself on the back for stating the obvious—Kipp does think he has carefully left out the inconvenient little fact of the cost of living here in Dubai.

Though the CPI dropped 1.7 percent this February, it is important to note the contribution of the glut of property supply to this fall. And yet, Kipp does wonder—what with the rising prices in Abu Dhabi and the increased ‘floating’ population here in Dubai, are we seeing the turn of fortunes for the two Emirates?