Six years after the launch of Qatar's population policy in October 2009, the Permanent Population Committee deemed it necessary to conduct a detailed evaluation of this policy, particularly in light of the rapid demographic changes the country had witnessed during that period. Population policy is not a static entity, but rather an ongoing process whose objectives evolve with the changing demographic realities of the country, and whose procedures are updated with each new development. Furthermore, it was essential to coordinate with the institutional frameworks governing the country's development, especially to ensure alignment between the objectives of the population policy and those of the National Development Strategy and other national sectoral strategies, in addition to its alignment with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The methodology for evaluating the population policy was based on a set of tools adopted by the Permanent Population Committee's Technical Office. These tools were implemented and their data analyzed over approximately two years. The tools included four questionnaires, the first of which aimed to review the goals, objectives, and procedures of the population policy from the perspective of the working groups (population policy focal points). The second objective was to determine what had been achieved and what remained outstanding regarding the goals and procedures established in 2009. The third questionnaire was directed to the ministries and bodies responsible for implementing the population policy, as well as to a number of experts and specialists, to gather their perspectives on what should be amended, retained, or removed from the goals, objectives, and procedures adopted in the previous population policy document. In addition, a public opinion poll was necessary, leading to the development of a fourth questionnaire aimed at assessing the Qatari population's awareness of the population policy and the Permanent Population Committee.
Following the completion of the analysis of the aforementioned questionnaires, the Technical Office deemed it necessary to conduct focus group interviews to address the gaps identified in the analysis and to explore the participants' expectations regarding the country's demographic future and the appropriate intervention mechanisms to address the demographic issue of imbalances in the population structure. These interviews included opinion leaders, experts, and specialists in various aspects of the population policy, particularly the core focus: population and the workforce.
