Qatar’s population remained above the 2.5mn level in March but saw a marginal fall from the previous month, according to figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS).
This is for the second successive year that Qatar’s population at the end of March has been lower than that registered at the end of February.
While the population was 2,545,603 at the end of February this year, it fell by around .73% to 2,527,000 on March 31, the MDPS data show. In 2015, the corresponding figures for February and March were 2,346,800 and 2,342,725, respectively, a marginal drop of .17%.
Year-on-year, though, Qatar’s population for March saw a jump of around 7.8% in 2016 as compared to 2015. 
In 2015, it was after a gap of five years that the country had recorded a lower population in March than in February. A close look at the population figures revealed that it was back in 2010 that the country had last experienced a similar fall in population between February and March.
Since 2000, the population growth was the highest in 2005 (21.79%), 2008 (18.90%), 2007 (16.81%), 2006 (15.10%) and 2009 (13.13%), according to information available online.
Records also show that the country’s population usually sees the maximum growth between November and May, except in December, when many people go on vacation.