The UAE's population reached 9,121,167 by December 31, 2016, the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority said quoting administrative records.

Records showed that the country had a male population of 6,298,294 and 2,822,873 females, making the gender split in the UAE 69 per cent male and 31 per cent female, said a Wam news agency report quoting the data.

The UAE is among the first countries in the region to reveal the population count relying on national administrative data methodology. This methodology has many advantages, such as very high accuracy, speed of processing and dissemination of data, and significant financial savings in costs of field count and survey operations, whereas there is virtually no direct cost in disseminating data based on national administrative records, it said.

"Since the inception of the FCSA, one of our strategic objectives has always been to spare no effort in evolving and modernising the statistical ecosystem in the United Arab Emirates in accordance with best and most advanced global standards and best practices," said Abdulla Nasser Lootah, the authority's director-general. "And thanks to the successful collaboration and support of our national partners and stakeholders in the UAE, we can now unveil the most up-to-date UAE population figures for the year 2016. We will be able to update the population number on an annual basis," he added.