Qatar has a population of 700,000 on a peninsula jutting out into the Persian Gulf. The United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven emirates, faces the Persian Gulf between Qatar and Oman. The sheik is an absolute monarch in each of the emirates. Two of the emirates dominate the oil supply, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The total population of the UAE is about 2 million.
Oman is also an absolute monarchy centered on the capital city of Muscat.
Oman consists of two parts, the large eastern corner of the peninsula and a small but critical cape to the north, the Musandam Peninsula. This protrudes into the Persian Gulf to form the Hormuz Strait. Oman has a population of 2.4 million. Yemen's population of about 15 million is second only to Saudi Arabia. Yemen was recently formed from North and South Yemen to form a multiparty, secular, democratic state, the only one in the region.