Dubai, Feb 25 (IANS) Indians form the largest number of foreign labour force in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), accounting for 42.5 percent of the total number of workers in the country, according to a new study. The study, conducted by Agency for Developing Human Resources and Recruiting UAE Nationals (Tanmia) found that 75 percent of the expatriate labour force in the UAE is from Asian countries and a majority of them is from India.

While Arabic-speaking people from other Middle Eastern nations account for 13.8 percent of the total workforce, expatriates from other countries make up 18.2 percent.

The study, carried out by Ahmed Shahib Al Dhahiri, vice-chairman of UAE’s Federal National Council (FNC), found that an influx of foreign workers into the UAE pushed the country’s population to 5.6 million by the end of 2006 from 4.1 million in 2005.

Local Emiratis number only 866,779, falling from 21.9 percent in 2005 to 15.4 percent of the total population.