SOCIETY - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Happy to be in Dubai

Lily B. Libo-on / 12 June 2012

Happiness is on a high in Dubai. A new survey released on Monday said the happiness average in the emirate is 7.9 on a scale of one-to-10.

The study was conducted by the Community Development Authority (CDA) in cooperation with the Dubai Statistics Center.
It said the happiness average among Emiratis was 8.3, and for Western expatriates it was eight. Arab expatriates scored 7.9 and Asian expatriates 7.8.

People are enjoying the performance of artist’s at the opening ceremony of the Dubai sopping festival at creek park in Dubai. - KT photo by M.sajjad

It also indicated 93% of Dubai community felt secure and protected. Among Emirati families this figure was about 96% and expatriate families almost 89%.
The study covering social cohesion said that the highest satisfaction percentage of families was among Europeans at 97.7%, followed by Arab families 97.3%, Asian families 96.9% and Emirati families 93.6%.
It appeared the highest percentage of cultural diversification in Dubai was among Arab expatriates at 81.7%, followed by European families 81.1%, Asian families 77.3% and Emirati families 65.9%.
When it came to human rights, the study found that 95% of Dubai population felt secure in their financial resources to meet their food requirements, and that only 17.5% of non-Emiratis did not agree that human rights were not protected in Dubai.
A whopping 93% of Dubai residents are proud of their city and almost 80% are proud of Emirati culture while 57% were proud of the Arab language.
Some 88.7 per cent of the employees residing in the labour accommodations felt they are protected for arbitrary work practices in Dubai.
The study conducted to measure the current levels of key performance indicators for its five-year strategy (2010-2014), is designed to strengthen community service standards in Dubai. It covered 19,924 individuals; 3,995 families, 1,992 Emirati families, 1,701 expatriate families, 302 grouped families and 500 individuals from labour communities.
Khaled Al Kamda, Director-General of CDA, said the study reflects CDA’s keenness to enhance social services in Dubai according to Dubai Strategic Plan 2015. “The study is a path-breaking initiative that helps decision-makers and public and private sectors to design policies and plans through an accurate database.”
“We are keen to enhance cooperation with strategic partners and co-launch promising initiatives and programmes that are useful for the community, and Dubai Statistic Center, one of our distinguished partners, played an active role in conducting this study,” Al Kamda said.
According to the study, some 80 per cent of Emiratis have conservative consumption attitude but they also top the list of bank borrowers, 14.7 per cent of which are defaulters. They are followed by Westerners, 15.5 per cent of which 5.1 are defaulters, Arab expats 13.4 per cent of which 2.1 per cent are defaulters, and Asian expats, 10.1 per cent of which 3.7 per cent are defaulters.
Of those surveyed, 13 per cent of them do not agree that there is freedom to exercise religious rites in Dubai, 16 per cent do not agree that everyone receives equal treatment by the police, 19.6 per cent believe that there is no equal treatment by judicial authorities, 22.6 per cent say they have no access to health facilities, 23 per cent feel there is discrimination in the treatment of people with disabilities, 24 per cent believe that there is discrimination in society based on gender (male and female) and 26.4 per cent say that low-skilled workers are not treated well in society.