Qatar

QATAR

A. THE COUNTRY

The State of Qatar, in Asia, occupies the small Qatar Peninsula on the
northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula, and is almost
entirely desert.  Qatar is ruled as an absolute monarchy with an open
and progressive attitude.  85% of exports are petroleum products that
make most Qataris wealthy.  Qatar has some of the world’s largest gas
reserves.  Oil wealth is used to diversify the economy which is growing
rapidly.

B. THE PEOPLE

The population is ~1,509,000 and the official language Arabic. 
The expatriate community makes up about 65% of the population and is
very difficult to accurately enumerate due to their transient and often
undocumented presence.  ~58.3% are Arab, ~10.9% South Asian, ~16.1%
Persian, ~4.4% Filipino, ~7.7% Bantu, ~2.6% Other.

C. RELIGIONS AND CHRISTIANITY/PENTECOSTALISM

The strict Wahhabi form of Sunni Islam is the state religion.
Proselytism of Muslims is forbidden, but expatriates are allowed to
practice their faith.  Christian communities have been offered land for
church buildings and a Catholic facility (2008) will be followed by
Anglican and Protestant buildings.
~88.39% are Muslim, ~5.91% claim to be Christian, ~2.7% Hindu, ~1.9%
Buddhist, ~0.55% Non-religious, ~0.35% Other, ~0.2% Baha’i.
In the Christian category:
~3.98% are Catholic, ~0.79% Protestant, ~0.53% Anglican, ~0.23%
Orthodox, ~0.21% Independent, ~0.17% are considered ‘marginal’ groups.
Evangelicals represent ~1% of the population.
Charismatics represent ~1% and of those 0.5% are Pentecostals.

Donna Siemens

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org

Operation World, Jason Mandryk. Colorado Springs: Biblica Publishing, 2010.