RIYADH: The unemployment rate of Qatar has been the lowest in the world, according to popular statistics aggregator Spectator Index. The Twitter account has placed the state at the bottom of a list ranking countries’ unemployment rates from highest to lowest, at 0.1 percent. Following Qatar were Thailand at 1.1 percent, Singapore at 1.8 percent and Switzerland at 2 percent. On the other hand, the countries with the highest unemployment rate were Nigeria at 33.3 percent, South Africa at 32.7 percent and Iraq at 14.2 percent. Qatar is also ranked as the nation with the lowest total percentage of labor force jobless by the World Bank. According to data released by the financial institution, Qatar’s total unemployment rate has gradually fallen over the past three decades, dropping from 0.81 percent in 1991 to 0.17 percent in 2021. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ In 2021, Qatar was ranked 17th out of 64 developed nations as per the Competitiveness Index, issued annually by the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland. The country ranked first in numerous aspects, including low unemployment rate, consumer price inflation and government budget. Qatar also attained 11th place in its economic performance, sixth place in government efficiency and 15th in its business sector efficiency, according to the IIMD report. The country’s youth unemployment is among the lowest recorded in the Middle East and North Africa region. Moreover, it stands below the world average due to the country’s “capacity to absorb young nationals into public sector jobs.” The World Bank also supported these findings, showing Qatar with one of the lowest levels of youth unemployment in the world at 0.5 percent of the total population. Qatar’s economy is projected to grow at 4 percent in 2023, down from 4.75 percent recorded last year, according to a report released by Standard Chartered. Even though this reflects a 0.75 percentage point drop, the British multinational bank said the forecast is only temporary as the gas-rich Gulf nation should build on the 2022 World Cup to expand its tourism sector further. The report disclosed that the Qatari authorities plan to boost the sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product to 12 percent by 2030, up from 7 percent currently.