Abdullah Shahid, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives and former President of the United Nations General Assembly, shared his admiration for the small Muslim country in a recent social media post.
"Immensely proud of Qatar as the first Muslim country, the second Asian country, and the smallest country to date, to host the World Cup," Foreign Minister Shahid said in a tweet.
Qatar is the smallest country by population participating in the World Cup by almost one million residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that Qatar, with a population of 2.5 million people, is the smallest country participating in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The next smallest country participating is Uruguay, which has a population of 3.4 million people.
The Census Bureau report shows that the United States is the largest participating country, with a population of 337.3 million, followed by Brazil, which has a population of 217.2 million. The release notes that England and Wales have separate soccer teams, but are both listed under the United Kingdom, which is the eighth-largest participating country, with a population of 67.79 million.
Qatar and the U.S. have similar total fertility rates (TFR), according to Census Bureau statistics, with the U.S. TFR at 1.84 and Qatar's TFR at 1.9. The two countries also have similar life-expectancy rates: 80.6 years in the U.S., 79.8 years in Qatar. Qatar is significantly more densely populated, with 216.5 people per square kilometer compared to the U.S. with 36.9 residents per square kilometer.
The first FIFA World Cup held in Asia was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002, also making it the first World Cup to be co-hosted by two countries, according to Onmanorama. Qatar is the first country in the Middle East to host the tournament.
Qatar played against Ecuador in the opening game of the tournament and was defeated 2-0, ESPN reported.
