- Oman has about 5.43 million residents; nearly 1 in 2 is an expatriate, so most campaigns speak to two audiences at once.
- Muscat and North Al Batinah hold 46% of all residents. Most local budgets should start there.
- Almost everyone is online, but only 62% have a social media identity. Ad platform “audiences” are larger than the real number of people.
- Seasons move people: over one million Khareef visitors went to Dhofar in 2025, and Muscat Nights filled January 2026.
Most marketing plans for Oman start with a guess. “Our audience is Muscat.” “Everyone is on Instagram.” “Expats don’t matter for us.” Some of those guesses are right, and some quietly waste half a budget. This fact file collects the numbers that matter most for marketing decisions in Oman, from official statistics and the most widely used industry reports, and adds what I have learned about reading them after years of running campaigns here.
It is an annual edition: the figures are refreshed every January, so you can bookmark this page and come back when you plan next year.
01Who lives in Oman
According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), Oman’s population stood at 5,434,104 in September 2026: 3,074,288 Omanis and 2,359,816 expatriates.1 At the end of 2025 the figure was 5,359,557, up 1.7% in a year, which means roughly 90,000 more residents in twelve months.2
Share of residents by nationality, September 2026. Source: NCSI.
Oman is also young. United Nations estimates put the median age at about 30, with roughly a quarter of residents under 15 and fewer than 3% aged 65 or over.3 Families with children are a very large share of household spending, which is why back-to-school, Eid and summer travel move so much demand.
more residents in 2025 alone, roughly the size of a new town added in one year.
of residents are expatriates, nearly one in two. Language choices in ads are a reach decision, not a style decision.
years is the median age. Half the country is younger than most brand managers.
02Where they live
Oman has eleven governorates, but its population is heavily concentrated along the coast from Muscat through Al Batinah.
| Governorate | Residents | Share of Oman |
|---|---|---|
| Muscat | 1,538,312 | |
| North Al Batinah | 945,647 | |
| South Al Batinah | 589,152 | |
| Ad Dakhiliyah | 574,354 | |
| Dhofar | 535,623 | |
| South Ash Sharqiyah | 377,701 | |
| North Ash Sharqiyah | 322,914 | |
| Adh Dhahirah | 248,813 | |
| Al Buraimi | 135,629 | |
| Al Wusta | 64,566 | |
| Musandam | 55,802 |
Three patterns stand out for marketers:4
Two governorates, 46% of people
Muscat and North Al Batinah together hold 2.48 million residents. For most consumer brands, that coastal corridor from Muscat to Sohar is the first market to win.
The interior is bigger than it looks
South Al Batinah, Ad Dakhiliyah and Dhofar each hold more than half a million people. Nizwa, Rustaq and Salalah are real markets, not add-ons.
Four governorates, 9.4%
Adh Dhahirah, Al Buraimi, Al Wusta and Musandam together hold about 505,000 people, fewer than South Al Batinah alone. Target them only with a clear local reason.
Distance shapes conversion
If you promise “delivery across Oman”, be specific per governorate. A Salalah customer compares your delivery time with a local shop, not with Muscat.
03How connected they are
DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report for Oman counts 5.28 million internet users at the end of 2025, a penetration of 95.3%, and 6.93 million cellular connections, equal to 125% of the population. It also estimates 3.44 million social media user identities in October 2025, or 62.1% of the population.5
Two things are worth noticing. First, more mobile connections than people: many residents carry two SIMs, often one for work or for calls home. Phone numbers are therefore not a perfect proxy for unique customers. Second, the gap between “online” and “on social media” is large. About 1.8 million internet users do not show up as social media identities. They still search, use WhatsApp and read news sites, which is why search and messaging matter as much as social feeds in Oman.
04What the platforms count
Platform numbers are where most plans go wrong. Ad tools report accounts that can be reached, not unique people, and they include visitors, duplicate accounts and people whose location is estimated.
| Platform | Users counted | Compared with social media identities (3.44M) |
|---|---|---|
| 4,664,100 | ||
| 3,259,200 | ||
| 1,107,000 |
Facebook alone reports 4.66 million users, 1.2 million more than the estimated number of social media identities in the whole country.6 That is not a contradiction; it is a warning. Treat platform audience sizes as a ceiling for planning, and judge campaigns on reach, frequency and results, not on the size of the pool you were shown.
Practical rule: when a Meta or TikTok audience estimate for Oman looks bigger than the population you are targeting, narrow by location radius, language and age before you trust it. See the Facebook marketing guide for Oman and the TikTok ads framework.
05When people move
Population figures are annual averages. Real audiences move with the seasons, and two events show how much.
visitors went to Dhofar during Khareef 2025, with July and August accounting for about 94% of arrivals.7
of Khareef visitors up to the end of August 2025 were Omani. The monsoon season is, above all, a domestic travel moment.
hosted Muscat Nights from 1 to 31 January 2026, with organisers expecting more than two million visits.8
For a Salalah hotel, restaurant or car rental, July and August are the year. For a Muscat retailer, the same months can be quiet as families travel. For the full month-by-month view, see The Oman Marketing Year 2027.
How many people can you actually reach?
Pick the governorates you serve and who you sell to. The sizer applies Oman’s national rates, so treat the result as a planning estimate.
Runs in your browser; nothing is saved. National shares are applied to every governorate; Muscat, for example, has a higher expatriate share than the national average.
06What it means for your marketing
Plan for two audiences
With 43% of residents expatriates, decide early whether you speak to Omanis, expats or both, and in which languages. The expat audience guide goes deeper.
Start on the coast, then earn the interior
Win Muscat and Al Batinah first, then expand to Nizwa, Sur and Salalah with local proof: local reviews, local delivery times, local faces.
Don’t skip search and WhatsApp
Nearly everyone is online, but more than a third of residents are not visible as social media identities. Search and WhatsApp reach the people social feeds miss.
Distrust big audience numbers
Platform counts are ceilings. Measure real reach and results, and compare with your own customer data. See branded search as a reality check.
Common questions
What is the population of Oman in 2026?
According to NCSI, Oman had 5,434,104 residents in September 2026: 3,074,288 Omanis (56.6%) and 2,359,816 expatriates (43.4%).
Which governorate in Oman has the most people?
Muscat, with 1,538,312 residents at the end of May 2026, about 28.5% of the total. North Al Batinah is second with 945,647.
How many people in Oman use the internet?
DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report estimates 5.28 million internet users at the end of 2025, a penetration of 95.3%.
Why are Facebook’s user numbers for Oman higher than the number of social media users?
Ad platforms count reachable accounts, including duplicates, visitors and estimated locations. Independent reports estimate people. Use platform numbers as an upper limit, not as a headcount.
How often is this fact file updated?
Once a year, in January, when new annual population and digital reports are published. Figures in each edition show the date they refer to.
Method & sources
Checked September 27, 2026. Official statistics are used wherever they exist; industry estimates are labelled as such. Shares and differences are my own calculations from the sources below.
- National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), population data, September 2026. ncsi.gov.om
- Muscat Daily, “Omanis make up 56.7% of population as total reaches 5.36mn”, 20 January 2026 (NCSI end-2025 figures). muscatdaily.com
- United Nations World Population Prospects estimates for Oman, via Worldometer. worldometers.info
- Oman Observer, “Oman’s population reaches 5.4 million by end of May 2026” (NCSI governorate figures). omanobserver.om
- DataReportal, “Digital 2026: Oman”. datareportal.com
- NapoleonCat, “Social media users in Oman”, June 2026. stats.napoleoncat.com
- Muscat Daily, “Over 1mn visitors to Dhofar during Khareef 2025”, and NCSI Khareef visitor bulletins. muscatdaily.com
- Muscat Daily, “Muscat set for expanded 2026 festival across eight venues”, 7 December 2025. muscatdaily.com