A vibrant middle class is generally seen as a hallmark of a modern, growing economy. Spanning a large swath of professions, the middle rung of society is a source of stability and entrepreneurial spirit. It has a clear stake in the future and will work hard to see its dreams fulfilled.
Yet in the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—one of the world’s fastest-growing regions, very little is known about this key social segment. The academic literature is small. An Internet search yields contradictory descriptions of the region’s middle class—variously depicted as “growing” and “shrinking,” “energized” and “distressed,” “empowered” and “threatened”—without any useful definition of it.
To gain a better understanding of the attitudes and role of the region’s middle class, Zogby International and McKinsey surveyed nearly 2,400 people in three GCC states: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.1 The project is the first phase of a long-term effort to examine the region’s middle class and track the changes within it. We asked respondents about their jobs, families, attitudes, and concerns, as well as what social class they belong to.
While our analysis is not yet complete,...