The State of Qatar occupies around 11,600 square kilometers on the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeast coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Gulf. A strait in the Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island state of Bahrain. Qatar has an estimated population of 2.6 million (2018), with approximately 10 percent citizens. A large proportion of foreign expatriates are Indian or Pakistani, followed by Iranians, Arabs and other nationalities. (Qatar department of foreign affairs and trade, website).

Qatar was a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It joined the United Nations in 1971 and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1996. In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.

Qatar ranked 32nd out of 188 countries in the 2015 UN Human Development Index, In the World Bank's “Doing Business 2016" report, Qatar ranked 68th out of 189 countries for ease of doing business. One of the more disappointing rankings released was the 2015 OECD “Education at a Glance" report, which covers the attainment of universal basic educational skills. Qatar came in 68th place out of 76 countries. (Oxford Business Group)