Country Profiles
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Oman
The Sultanate of Oman is on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The coast faces the Arabian Sea on the southeast, and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. It has a number of smallish exclaves within the United Arab Emirate’s land borders. The capital and largest city is Muscat.
Maps & Flag
Of Oman’s total population of 5.2 million, just over half are Omani citizens (2.9 million, 57 per cent).
Introduction
Under its “Vision 2040 development plan,” the Sultanate of Oman is “determined to diversify its income sources and achieve sustainable development” (World Bank, 2024a). [1] The expansion of nonhydrocarbon activities has helped supporting economic activity despite OPEC+ oil production cuts, notably in construction, manufacturing, and services. In a summary, the World Bank (2024a) write:
Economic activity continues to perform well despite OPEC+ oil production cuts, driven by the expansion of non-hydrocarbon activities, notably in construction, manufacturing, and services, but fiscal revenues and exports proceeds remain tied to oil market developments. However, a commitment to economic diversification continues to shore up fiscal and external positions, keeping them in surplus over the medium term. Employment growth is driven by female employment, which is estimated to increase twice the rate observed among men. Downside risks to the outlook include oil market volatility, climate change risks, and potential spillovers from the escalating of conflict in the Middle East.
The utilisation of windfall savings to reduce public debt in 2023 was an important step to bring it down by almost a half of its peak of nearly 68 per cent of GDP in 2020, thereby improving Oman’s credit rating, but more efforts are needed to decouple fiscal revenue from oil proceeds. In January 2024, Oman Investment Authority launched the “Future Fund Oman,” worth £4.2 billion (US$5.2bn), to invest in a wide range of industries, attract foreign direct investment (FDI) , and support the private sector over the next five years, mainly in tourism, manufacturing, green energy, and logistics, among other. The new social protection law, which has become effective in January 2024, introduced a range of non-contributory social benefits, underscoring Oman’s commitment to supporting its vulnerable population despite its increased fiscal burden. In addition, a series of new measures were announced in July 2024 to regulate the labour market and boost private-sector employment among nationals. Key measures include adding 30 new professions to the list of jobs reserved for Omani citizens and providing financial incentives to companies hiring Omanis, with potential government contributions to salaries.
Political-Economy
Oman’s overall score in EIU’s 2023 Democracy Index was 3.12 (out of ten) in 2023 ranking it 119th out of 167 economies. Oman’s score remains around the median for GCC countries, below Qatar’s and Kuwait’s but above those of the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The EIU classify it as remains classified as an “authoritarian.”
According to RSF (2024) media self-censorship is the rule in the “peaceful sultanate” of Oman, where “criticism of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq or his cousin and predecessor, Qabus ibn Said, are unacceptable.” Between 2016 and 2021, political pressure forced the few independent and critical newspapers, Azamn and Al-Balad, and the online magazine Muwatin, to shut down. Omani journalism is marked by overwhelmingly positive coverage that aims to deliver a glowing image of the country. Any form of criticism is frowned upon. It is further said that bloggers and journalists are frequently arrested, sometimes detained in secret and sentenced to prison on charges including insulting the head of state, or the country’s culture or traditions, inciting illegal demonstrations, or disturbing public order. Advocating for environmental protection or the safeguarding of nature reserves is also considered to be mostly off-limits for journalists.
RSF (2024) also state that in Oman, most media are financed by government advertising. The government regularly organises press tours and even hosts events that promote journalism, which are opportunities to invite media professionals from all over the world. These events serve to publicise the sultanate’s history and culture and to present its economic development strategy plan: “Vision 2040.”
Freedom House (2024) write that “Oman is a hereditary monarchy, and power is concentrated in the hands of the sultan.” Furthermore, Oman’s government “restricts virtually all political rights and civil liberties, imposing criminal penalties for criticism and dissent.” Interestingly, demonstrations in support of Palestine that took place in several Omani cities since Israel’s war on Gaza were not being broken up by security forces.
Oman has a new social protection law that paves the way for a universal social security system according to Human Rights Watch (2024). The NGO state that if effectively and fairly implemented, “this law could realize socioeconomic rights of Omani nationals and residents, including migrant workers, who are facing events that substantially affect their income.” Interestingly, the new system is scheduled to include a monthly universal, rather than means-tested, child benefit to every family per child, an entitlement for people aged 60 and older, a disability allowance in family income support, and support for widows and orphans. That being said, Human Rights Watch (2024) also state the following:
Oman’s overly broad laws restrict the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association. The authorities target peaceful activists, pro-reform bloggers, and government critics using short term arrests and detentions and other forms of harassment. Although the law states that all citizens are equal and bans gender-based discrimination, women face discrimination under the law in matters of divorce, inheritance, child custody and legal guardianship. Oman’s kafala (labour sponsorship) system and lack of labor law protections leaves the country’s more than 140,000 migrant domestic workers exposed to abuse and exploitation by employers.
Graphs & Tables
What follows are a selection of graphs and tables, focused on Oman, from credible and cited sources. It is worth comparing the data presented here with those of the other Arabian Gulf countries.
RSF contend that it is the right of every human being to “have access to free and reliable information.” The Press Freedom Index, use five contextual indicators for each economy assessed: political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context and safety (whereby a subsidiary score ranging from 0 to 100 is calculated for each indicator):
Oman, Press Freedom scores
Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index analyses the transformation processes toward democracy in transitional economies across the globe. In 2024 it was stated that throughout MENA, “autocratic rule festers” and that MENA’s scores for democracy and the quality of governance are at “all-time lows” and that “the quality of governance is deteriorating, and military forces are gaining power.” The German Non-governmental organisation adds that many countries within this region on “flashy imagery and marketing under the banner of modernisation, rather than making actual progress (BTI, 2024).
Oman’s 2024 BTI scores
Expand Chart →
Oman’s 2024 BTI matrix:
Oman’s 2022 BTI matrix:
Oman’s 2020 BTI matrix:
Oman’s 2018 BTI matrix:
Fraser Institute rankings
The Fraser Institute’s Human Freedom Index presents a broad measure of human freedom, understood as the absence of coercive constraint.
Oman, Human Freedom Index, 2024 scores
Freedom House rankings
Freedom House point out that their Freedom in the World annual rankings are “the most widely read and cited report of its kind, tracking global trends in political rights and civil liberties for over 50 years.” They chart Global Freedom scores and Internet Freedom scores for some 210 countries and territories. More latterly, Freedom House have begun to chart Internet Freedom scores (currently 70 countries are tracked, of which three are in the Arabian Gulf: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).
Oman, Freedom in the World, 2024 scores
notes
Country profile information is compiled from, amongst others, the following sources; a full References list for this page is also given below:
Academic
Cambridge University Press →
Elsevier 
Intellect Discover →
Oxford Academic →
Routledge →
Sage →
Springer →
Media outlets
The Economist Intelligence Unit →
Financial Times →
Middle East Economic Digest →
Organisations
Arab Monetary Fund →
Bertelsmann Transformation Index →
Energy Information Agency →
Energy Institute →
Eurostat →
Fraser Institute →
Freedom House →
International Energy Agency →
International Monetary Fund →
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries →
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development →
Reporters sans frontières →
United Nations Development Program →
Varieties of Democracy →
The World Bank →
World Economic Forum →
World Intellectual Property Organisation →
World Trade Organisation →
References
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The Six GCC Economies:
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| i | This is the website of Dr Emilie J. Rutledge who, with almost two decades’ worth of experience in managing, designing and delivering university-level economics courses, is currently Head of the Economics Department at The Open University.
 erutledge.com  Dr Emilie J. Rutledge Emilie has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers and is the author of “Monetary Union in the Gulf.” Her current research focus is on employability, the feasibility of universal basic incomes and, the oil-rich Arabian Gulf’s economic diversification and labour market reform strategies. On an ad hoc basis, Emilie provides consultancy on developing interactive university courses, alongside analytical insight on the political-economy of the Arabian Gulf. |