Dubai population growth and new homes: the official figures (2026)

Dubai had 4.580 million residents at the end of 2025, according to Digital Dubai's release of 30 July 2026. That was about 332,000 more than a year earlier, growth of 7.5%.

The figure comes from "Dubai Population Now", a register-based count run through the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment. Instead of a traditional census, it builds the population from administrative records held by government bodies and updates continuously, feeding Dubai's population clock.

Residents are only part of the picture. Digital Dubai put the average daytime population at peak hours in 2025 at 6.392 million, including more than 1.812 million temporary visitors: people who work in Dubai but live elsewhere, tourists and others present on an average day.

This guide sets out the published population figures by year, the plan for 2040, and the official and consultancy figures for new homes. It reports what each source states for a stated period. It does not forecast prices, rents or the balance between people and homes.

On the current register-based series, Dubai's population rose from 3,718,000 at the end of 2022 to 4.580 million at the end of 2025. Earlier years are available only on the previous method, which gave lower figures.

Within the register-based series, the population grew by 256,300 in 2023, by 273,900 in 2024 and by about 332,000 in 2025, by our subtraction of the published figures. Digital Dubai gives the 2025 growth rate as 7.5%.

Within the earlier series, growth between 2019 and 2021 was slower: 55,300 in 2020 and 67,100 in 2021. Those were the years of the pandemic.

Because Dubai changed how it counts. The Dubai Statistics Center's 2024 bulletin says the estimates for 2022 to 2024 were revised and adjusted using the results of the Dubai Population Now project, calculated on a register-based approach. The revised figures are higher.

For the end of 2024, for example, the earlier method gave 3,863,600 and the register-based method 4,248,200. The difference, about 385,000 people, comes from the method, not from a year of growth.

This matters when you read older articles and listings. Figures such as 3.66 million for 2023 or 3.8 million for 2024 belong to the earlier series. Some official pages still show older numbers: the federal portal's page on Dubai, for instance, gives 3,759,864 without a date.

Who lives in Dubai. The 2024 bulletin gives 2,911,500 males (68.5%) and 1,336,700 females (31.5%) at the end of 2024, on the revised estimate.

The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan provides for 5.8 million residents by 2040, from 3.3 million in 2020. It also plans for a daytime population of 7.8 million, from 4.5 million in 2020.

These are planning numbers. The plan uses them to size land for homes, schools, transport, parks and beaches, and Dubai Municipality's summary says the land needed for that growth is within the unbuilt land already allocated for development. They are not a forecast of how many people will live in Dubai in any given year.

The plan's 2020 baseline of 3.3 million was set on the earlier counting method, so it is not directly comparable with the 4.58 million register-based figure for 2025. Our guide to the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan covers the urban centres, the land targets and the housing chapter in full.

The Dubai Land Department reported 124 completed real estate projects in 2025, worth AED 27.5 billion, up 7% in number and 23% in value on 2024. For the first half of 2026 it reported 104 completed projects adding 24,537 new units, against 75 projects and 18,043 units in the first half of 2025.

The official figures count projects first. The Dubai Land Department's full-year release counts projects and their value, not units. Its first-half release does count units, which is the closest official measure of new homes delivered.

The consultancies count units. Cavendish Maxwell counted 34,700 units completed in 2024 and 40,400 in 2025. ValuStrat counted about 36,000 in 2025, which it split into 26,810 apartments and 9,382 villas, and put Dubai's existing stock at about 855,927 residential units at the start of 2024. The firms use their own definitions and cut-off dates, which is why their totals differ.

Under construction. The Dubai Land Department reported 937 projects under construction at the end of 2025, 25% more than a year earlier. ValuStrat counted more than 220,000 units under construction in February 2026.

The Dubai Land Department's 2025 figures describe how many people bought and rented, which is a different thing from how many people live in Dubai. They are the closest official measures of housing activity.

Read these with care. A tenancy contract is a lease, not a household, and one person can sign more than one in a year. Sales include investors who do not live in Dubai. Neither figure can be divided into the population to give a meaningful number of people per home.

For the latest quarterly sales, see our analysis of Dubai Land Department registered sales. For how rents are set and when they can rise, see the Dubai rental index.

Only roughly, and the published figures do not support a precise answer. No official source we found publishes Dubai's total number of homes, its average household size or how many residents live in employer-provided housing. Without those, residents and units cannot be set against each other reliably.

What the figures do show, each for its own period:

• Residents: about 332,000 more at the end of 2025 than at the end of 2024 (Digital Dubai).
• New units completed: 24,537 in the first half of 2026 (Dubai Land Department), and about 36,000 to 40,400 in 2025 by the two consultancies' counts.
• Pipeline: 937 projects under construction at the end of 2025 (Dubai Land Department).

Many of Dubai's residents share homes, live in staff accommodation or live in other emirates and commute. A new unit can be a studio or a six-bedroom villa. For those reasons we report the figures side by side and draw no conclusion about shortage or surplus.

They describe the city; your purchase depends on the building and the area. Use the citywide numbers as background, then check the local ones.

1. Look at supply where you are buying. A citywide completion total says little about one community. See which projects hand over in the same year, using our handover 2027 and handover 2028 pages and the area pages.
2. Check rents on the Dubai Land Department's rental index for completed buildings near your project, rather than citywide averages.
3. Check the project's progress on the Dubai Land Department's Project Status service. Our guide to checking an off-plan project and developer shows how.
4. Read the plan for the area. The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan shows where Dubai intends to grow, and new areas in Dubai covers the districts being built now.
5. Use the latest series. When a seller or article quotes a population figure, check whether it is the register-based figure or the earlier one.

Each figure in this guide has an official home, and most are updated during the year. These are the places to check before you rely on a number.

Consultancies publish their own counts, often quarterly. When you use one, note the firm, the period and whether it counts units or projects, and do not add one firm's figure to another's.

When a figure changes, we update this guide and its date. The population series in particular may be revised again as the register-based count matures.

• The city plan: the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan.
• Where new homes are going: new areas in Dubai and Dubai's areas and districts.
• Homes on sale now: all projects and new launches.