Socioeconomic, demographic, housing and health conditions of Qatari women by status of marriage and implications for family polices

Abstract

This study addressed the problems and issues facing the Qatari family in the wake of rapid socio-economic development. The study explored housing conditions, health conditions and economic conditions of Qatari women as related to the marital status categories such as never married, married, divorced and widowed across seven administrative regions of Qatar, i.e., at the national level. The data for the study were obtained from the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, Qatar Census Data, 2010. Macro-level data were analyzed in Excel for prominence in frequency for demographic, socio-economic, housing and health conditions across different types of marital status categories. The results of the study showed that most of the Qatari women belonged to the married or never married categories. However, the divorced and the widowed women, though in the minority, faced health issues in terms of more reported disabilities and lower housing and economic conditions as compared to other categories.