Yearbook 2010
Oman. Environmental conservation organizations paid attention during the year to shark fishing off Oman’s coast and how hard it hit several shark species, including hammer shark. According to COUNTRYAAH, Oman has a population of 4.829 million (2018). The government of Oman thought that an international effort was needed to limit catches. It is estimated that up to 70 million sharks are fished annually, mainly for the fins. Most of the shark raised outside the Arabian Peninsula was exported to China, where demand for, for example, shark fin soup had increased as income rose.
According to softwareleverage, an Indian maid on her way home passed away in October at Muscat Airport after losing her passport and suffering from severe anxiety and heart problems when forced to stay at the airport for five days. The human rights organization Amnesty International demanded that the Government of Oman and the Embassy of India in Oman investigate the handling of the incident.
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Southwestern Asian state, in the Arabian Peninsula, with an exclave near the Strait of Hormuz. The population (2,340,815 residents at the 2003 census) is mainly made up of Arabs (73 % of the total), with minorities of Indians (13 %), Pakistanis and Egyptians. The population density is very low due to the difficult environmental conditions; most of the residents live concentrated in the Masqaṭ region and above all in the coastal strip, where the main urban centers are located, including the capital itself.
The country, like all the states in the region, depends on hydrocarbons, which contribute 50 % to the formation of national income and represent over 75 % of public revenues and two thirds of export income. However, the sultanate pursues an economic strategy based on diversification and privatization. In particular, the country plans to enter the elite tourism sectorand in that of ecotourism. The enhancement of the other great resource, natural gas, and the creation of numerous infrastructures, driven by the privatization of some public services (electricity, desalination of sea water, etc.), have contributed to reducing dependence on the oil sector and the growth of national income, compared quadruplicatosi the eighties of the 20th century.