Destination United Arab Emirates, a Nations Online country profile of the independent state on the Arabian Peninsula bordering the Persian Gulf (Arab Gulf) and the Gulf of Oman.
The United Arab Emirates, sometimes simply called the Emirates or UAE, is a federation of seven emirates (states): Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, and Fujairah.
The country's landscape consists mostly of gravel plains and sand dunes desert; its main cities and urban centers are located mainly along its coasts.
Border countries are Oman and Saudi Arabia; the UAE shares maritime borders with Iran and Qatar. There is a disputed region in the west of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi; therefore, it is unclear if the UAE actually has a land border with Qatar.
The country covers an area of 83,600 km², compared it is about the size of Austria, or slightly smaller than the US State of Maine.
The UAE has a population of about 9.9 million people, including foreigners (in 2020). The male population of the country is twice as large as the female population.
The capital city is Abu Dhabi, the country's largest city is Dubai, a metropolis of a strange shisha dream, a playground for international architects. The city is a mirage in the desert with huge shopping malls and extravagant entertainment attractions, including the world's highest skyscraper (Burj Khalifa), and palm-shaped artificial islands. Spoken languages are Arabic (official), Persian, English, Hindi, and Urdu.
The United Arab Emirates is known for the tallest human-made structure, the Burj Khalifa, and the Burj Al Arab, one of the tallest hotel building in the world. The UAE is famous for several artificial islands like the Palm Jumeirah island, the World, and The Universe archipelagos. The contemporary art museums of the Louvre of Abu Dhabi and the planned Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. The UAE is known for its Grand Mosques, The Dubai Mall, oil, a lot of sand, oil, oases, date palms, sand, dune bashing, falconry, pearl hunting, robot jockey camel racing, and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The country's staple food is Shawarma (UAE Doner kebab), meat, fish, and rice, and the rare stuffed camel dish. The emirates are also famous for all the fantastic things you can buy or build with petro-dollars.