Bahrain's population has soared to more than 1.2 million people - setting a new national record, according to the results of the latest census.

It found a total of 1,234,571 people now live in Bahrain, an increase of 128,062 from 2008 statistics compiled by the Central Informatics Organisation.

Meanwhile, Bahrainis now find themselves in the minority, accounting for 568,399 of the population - with expats making up the rest.

There are almost twice as many men in Bahrain as women, according to the results of the latest census.

Expat males alone outnumber the total female population.

The figures put Bahrain's total population at 1,234,571, including 768,414 males and 466,157 females - reflecting a population increase of 128,062 from 2008 statistics compiled by the CIO.

More than half of the males are non-Bahraini, with 481,175 expat males now living in Bahrain.

The vast majority of those males are Asian, with 433,756 hailing from countries in Asia.

Interestingly, the population has almost twice as many female divorcees as male divorcees. Of the 986,968-strong population aged over 15, 7,738 women were divorced compared to only 4,284 men.

A total of 521,986 people, including 380,727 men, had never been married, while 14,144 had been widowed.

The census, which also covers housing and businesses, identified 92,204 non-residential establishments across the five governorates.

Of those, it found that just 62,498 were active.

The statistics also show there are 66,055 flats and 62,318 private villas, 6,440 conventional houses and 3,525 garden villas in Bahrain. The number of traditional houses recorded was 4,827.

Speaking to our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN) yesterday, Migrant Workers Protection Society action committee head Noora Feleyfel admitted the huge number of expat men living in Bahrain could pose problems.

'The more people we have the more problems we will face,' she said.

'But I think most of the problems start from the countries these people come from.

'We find that a lot of people coming to Bahrain are very poor, have no education and no language skills.

'Most of them don't even know their basic human rights, so when they do encounter abuse they don't know what to do.

'I think it would be better if we came up with a set of guidelines for countries to follow before they send people to Bahrain.'-TradeArabia News Service