Planning Council statistics

[qatarperegrine]

You've all heard me complain left and right (like here and here and here) that it's impossible to get quantitative data on ANYTHING in Qatar, and that the Peninsula is miserable at reporting statistics in any meaningful way. Recently a coworker pointed me at a website that made me ecstatic with the joy that only happy little numbers can bring: The Qatar Planning Council's statistics page.

Now we can all read up about those nagging questions that seemed not to have answers, like Qatar's divorce rate (30%), what percentage of court cases are for traffic violations (95%), how many cases of leprosy are diagnosed a year (15), how many of Qatar's women get married under the age of 15 (about 7 a year) -- I could go on! I'll just try not to snigger too loudly that the graph on education status misspells "illiterate."

Here's the most disturbing one so far: Sentences Passed Against Convicts by Type of Penalty and Type of Crime. 420 people were flogged for sexual crimes in 2003? WTF??

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hehe you don't know that people are being flogged, lashed, etc. for "illicitg relationships" in Qatar? It's illegal to engage in sexual activities with anyone other than your spouse. Which makes it very interesting that when Federer comes for the Qatar Open tournament and stays with his long term girlfriend, his hotel room is not raided by the police. Apparently, law is not the same for everyone.

Qatar Cat

[y-pestis.livejournal.com]

Dear lord. What's the statute of limitations on that? My husband and I were visiting Qatar last year, before we were married...

I won't go on, in case we're still liable for prosecution. I was a wussy kid at being spanked, let alone flogged.

[qatar.livejournal.com]

You got spanked?!

[y-pestis.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I ever did. Mum? I do remember that the threat was that she'd count to three and then smack. I distinctly recall her getting as far as "two" before I'd start running, screaming, holding my hands over my bottom.

Like I said, I was a very wussy kid.

[materjibrail.livejournal.com]

No. You learned fractions.
One. Two. Two and a half. Two and three quarters. Two and seven eighths.
I was a wussy mum. Spared the rod and spoiled the child. Look how you turned out.

[y-pestis.livejournal.com]

That's right! I'm remembering now.

You're right. I came out completely without any discipline, but insanely good at fractions and Xeno's paradox.

:-)

[qatar.livejournal.com]

hahahahahaha!

[qatar.livejournal.com]

Sure, I knew that extramarital sex is illegal. I didn't realize that corporal punishment was the most popular punishment for it, though.