Abu Dhabi, Jul 26th, 2011 (WAM)--xxxx. 2010. SCADs Yearbook 2011 presents a wide range of statistics on all aspects of economic activity in the emirate, such as the indicators of the oil sector, which show that Dhabis oil reserves stood at 92.2 billion barrels in 2009, while the Emirates total natural gas reserves were estimated at 212 trillion cubic feet for the same year.

In 2010, average production of crude oil was 2.3 million barrels per day, while that of natural gas was 4,847 million cubic feet per day.

Electrical power generation reached 41,713,000 MWH in 2010, compared to 39,219,090 MWH in 2009, while per capita electricity consumption increased from 19 MWH in 2009 to 21 MWH in 2010.

In the tourism sector the emirate had 115 hotel establishments in 2010. The year under review also saw the number of guests grow by about 17.7% and the number of hotel rooms by 10.2%. Occupancy rate was 64.7%, while the average length of stay in 2010 was 2.8 nights.

In the transport sector, 668,833 new and renewed vehicle road permits were issued during 2009. Aircraft movements at the airports of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain reached 204,260 flights in 2010.

There are several underlying factors behind the Emirates attractive investment climate, including a strategic geographic location, highly developed infrastructure, the miscellaneous facilities offered by the Emirates free zones and industrial cities, very low tax, easy access to energy sources and credit facilities, etc.

Investment statistics for 2010 show that the total number of registered business reached 96,381, of which 10.4% were newly licensed businesses, compared with 86,402 businesses in 2009 of which 14.7% were licensed during the same year.

There are huge opportunities for Abu Dhabi to enhance the local business environment, attract more foreign investments, improve the value added in the local economy and increase non-oil exports.

The Government pays particular attention to sustainable development and regards manufacturing as one of the promising sectors in this regard. According to Abu Dhabi Statistical Yearbook 2011, manufacturing made up 27.2 percent of the gross output of industrial activity and accounted for 10.8 percent of the value added in 2009.

One of the most important manufacturing activities in the emirate is the basic metals industry, which is key to the development of the manufacturing activity, having accounted for 6.1 percent of the gross output and about 3 percent of the total value-added of the manufacturing activity in 2009.

Abu Dhabi is one of the worlds major producers of oil, which was discovered in commercial quantities for the first time in 1958. Since then the emirate has been able to achieve remarkable progress in the investment and development of its oil reserves and natural gas.

According to the figures presented in SCAD Yearbook 2011, Abu Dhabi now ranks sixth worldwide in terms of proven oil reserves, and accounts for 8 percent of OPECs production. In addition, the emirate ranks seventh worldwide in terms of natural gas reserves.

Oil revenues constitute the main source of funding for Abu Dhabis programmers of sustainable development and income diversification. It is estimated that the value added of this activity contributed 44.6 percent of the Emirates GDP in This led the Government to adopt a plan aiming to diversify the economic base and significantly reduce this percentage in the coming years, since such diversification offers a true guarantee for a balanced and sustainable development.

The book also presents statistics on oil and natural gas activities, including oil production and exports, in addition to data on gas liquefaction and oil refining.

There are two refineries in Abu Dhabi Emirate, with a combined refining capacity of 600 thousand barrels per day. The Emirate plans to build a third refinery in the Emirate of Fujairah with a capacity of 300 thousand bpd.

Abu Dhabi Yearbook - 2011 illustrate the remarkable development achieved in the petrochemical industry of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which has been evolving constantly, benefiting from the availability of the basic inputs, which give this sector the opportunity to manufacture high-quality products and ensure market success. This section of the yearbook also provides data on the emirates basic petrochemical products, which include polyethylene and fertilisers, such as urea and ammonia.

Electricity and water: Since March 1998 the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) has become the higher supervisory authority regulating the water and electricity activity in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and implementing government policies in this regard.

The Government accords special importance to this activity, being one of basic constituents of the infrastructure. It to be noted here that privatization of this activity has had a clearly favourable impact in enhancing it productive efficiency.

In 2010 total electricity consumption in the Emirate Abu Dhabi was 40,644 GWH, of which the share of Abu Dhabi region was 63.6 percent, followed by Al-Ain region (24.4 percent) and the Western region (12.0 percent).

The Emirates water consumption totalled 192, 028 million imperial gallons, of which Abu Dhabi region consumed 60.6 per cent, Al Ain region 26.6 per cent and the Western region 12.8 per cent.

Construction: construction is one of the key economic activities in the economy. In 2009, construction accounted for 14.8% of the emirates GDP, reflecting the strength and the development of this sector in the emirate.

Abu Dhabi Statistical Yearbook 2011 provides data on the major economic indicators of the construction activity, along with new tables and updated information on the building permits issued by the municipalities, with unified terminology used in the tables issued by all municipalities.

In 2010 the number of building permits issued, which serves as an indicator of developments in this activity, reached 7,747 permits for residential buildings, marking an increase of 16.3 percent over the number of permits issued in 2009. In addition, 3,785 non-residential building permits were issued in 2010. Some 28 percent of the licenses issued were for construction of new buildings.

Transport: the statistics laid out in this section highlight the main features of the transport sector and include detailed data on licensed vehicles, traffic accidents, length of roads and air and maritime transport in 2010.

The transport activity is one of the key activities in the Emirate, given its significant contribution to the GDP and its role in connecting the emirates geographical regions. Transport activities are done through three modes, namely air, sea, and road (land) transport and its related support services.

In 2009 the number of vehicles and heavy equipment in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi totalled 668,800 vehicles. Aircraft movement through the emirates two international airports (Abu Dhabi Airport and Al-Ain Airport) in 2010 was 204.3 thousand flights, up 93.8 percent compared with 2009, while passenger traffic was 11.1 million passengers, marking a rise of 14 percent compared to 2009.

Hotels: the government of Abu Dhabi pays particular attention to the tourism sector to evolve into one of the engines of the economy as envisaged in the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision, which aims to diversify the emirates economy and income sources. Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi has therefore accords special importance to hotel indicators and closely monitors the significant growth this sector has experienced in recent years.

The data presented in SCADs Statistical Yearbook - 2010 show that the number of Abu Dhabi hotel establishments increased by 5.5 percent to 115 establishments in 2010. This was accompanied by a growth of 10.2 percent in the number of hotel rooms, while the number of guests reached 1812. This significant rise in the number and capacity of hotels reduced the occupancy rate by 10.4 percent from 72.2 percent in 2009 to 64.7 percent in 2010, even though the number of hotel guests rose by 17.7 percent in 2010.

Figures also point to a slight rise in the average length of stay from 2.8 in 2009 to 2.83 in 2010. There has also been a rise in the number of guests for all nationalities except European nationals, for whom the number declined by about 3%, while it grew for other nationalities by 23.1 percent. The year 2010 also saw the number of guest nights increase by 18.8% for various nationalities, but declined by 10.0 for guests from Australia and the Pacific.

Population and demography: Abu Dhabi Statistical Yearbook 2011 presents data on the size, distribution and structure of the population of the Abu Dhabi emirate. The book also dedicates a section vital statistics, containing data on births, deaths, marriage and divorce, and arrivals and departures of individuals to and from the Emirate.

The Abu Dhabi Census 2011 is scheduled for the fourth quarter of the current year. The Census will provide a comprehensive, accurate, and updated database about the residents of emirate of Abu Dhabi and their demographic characteristics, for both nationals and non-nationals. The pre-census population estimates given in the 2011 Statistical Yearbook are therefore subject to revision after the results of the Abu Dhabi Census 2011 become available in the first half of 2012.

Births, fertility and mortality: the data given by SCADs Yearbook - 2010 on these vital event show that there were 29366 registered births in 2010, of which 15275 were males and 14090 were females. Registered deaths for the same year were 2879, of which 2051 were males and 826 were females.

The crude birth rates for nationals, non-nationals and the total population were 31.1, 10.3 and 14.9 births per 1000 population respectively.

Life expectancy at birth is defined as the average number of years to be lived by a new born baby if he/she experiences throughout his/her life the set of age-specific mortality rates observed in a certain time period. In 2010 life expectancy at birth was 74.9 years for males and 77.0 females. The corresponding figures for nationals and non-nationals were 76.2, 74.6, years respectively.

The percentages of births likely to survive to the age of 65 years among nationals and non-nationals are almost identical (85 per cent). The corresponding figures among nationals by gender are 83.2 per cent and 87.0 per cent for male and female births respectively.

The percentages of individuals likely to survive from 15 to 60 years of age among nationals and non-nationals are 91.7 per cent and 92.9 per cent respectively. The corresponding figures among nationals by gender are 90.1 per cent and 93.4 per cent for male and female adults respectively.

The 2010 infant mortality rates for nationals, non-nationals and the Emirates total population are 7.8, 7.8 and 8.0 infant (less than one year old) deaths per 1000 live births, respectively. The corresponding figures among nationals by gender are 8.3 male infant deaths per 1000 male live births and 6.9 female infant deaths per 1000 female live births.

Marriage and divorce statistics: according to marriage and divorce statistics presented in Abu Dhabi Yearbook 2011, 5,848 new marriages were registered in 2010, with the wife being an Emirati national in 3,242 of them. The number of divorces during the same year was 1,769, of which 820 cases involved female nationals.

The singulate mean age at first marriage (SMAM) shows a trend towards marriage at older ages. The SMAM for female nationals increased from 23.7 years in 1995 to 25.9 years in 2010, while the SMAM for male nationals did not show an equally significant increase (rising only slightly from 25.3 to 26.5 years in 2010).

In 2010, Al Ain Region had a higher refined marriage rate (15.7) than Abu Dhabi Region (12.4) and Western Region (6.5). The refined divorce rate for the same period was slightly higher in Abu Dhabi Region (1.8) than in Al Ain (1.7).

As is the case of refined marriage rate, the Western Region also had the lowest refined divorce rate (0.4).

The refined marriage rate in a given region/country in a specific year/period of time is defined as the number of marriages (and not the number of married couples) per 1000 unmarried population (who have never been married, or who are divorced or widowed) aged 15 years and above within that region/country in that year/period of time.

The refined divorce rate within a given region/country in a specific year/period of time is defined as the number of divorces (and not the number of divorced couples) per 1000 married population aged 15 and above in that region/country in that year/period of time.

Social Development: Abu Dhabi Statistical Yearbook - 2011 explores the Emirates remarkable achievements in the various spheres of social development, such as education. The Government of Abu Dhabi has spared no effort in providing high quality education facilities, health and social welfare services, security, justice and involvement of the stakeholders in these sectors in setting priorities and strategies.

The emirate seeks to provide advanced services that meet the highest international standards. The health sector in the Emirate of Dhabi, for instance, is served by a high level of expertise and has access highly developed infrastructures and resources, while individuals are covered with comprehensive health schemes.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2011.