First published February 28, 2021.
In February 2021 The Guardian reported that more than 6,500 migrant workers from five South Asian countries had died in Qatar in the decade after it won the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The number was quickly repeated as "6,500 people died building stadiums," which is not what it measured. It counts deaths from all causes among migrants from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, whatever their job. Many of those workers were building the roads, hotels, metro and stadiums the tournament needed, but the records do not say how many.
Understanding what the figure includes, and what it leaves out, is the key to the whole debate about labour conditions in Qatar.
Where the 6,500 number comes from
The Guardian compiled government data from the five countries' embassies and records. For India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka it covered 2011 to 2020; for Pakistan, 2010 to 2020. The total works out at roughly twelve deaths every week. Because records were not broken down by occupation or workplace, the investigation could not say how many were construction workers, let alone stadium workers. Deaths among migrants from other countries, such as the Philippines and Kenya, were not included, so the true total of migrant deaths was higher.
Nick McGeehan of the labour-rights group FairSquare argued that a very large share of those who died "were only in the country because Qatar won the right to host the World Cup."
How workers died
Some deaths were clearly work accidents, such as falls from height. A large share, however, were recorded as "natural causes" or cardiac arrest, often without an autopsy. Amnesty International argued that such labels hide the real causes and make it easier for employers to avoid paying compensation, since a death that is not work-related usually brings families nothing.
Heat is the main suspect. Summer temperatures in Qatar can pass 50°C, and long shifts outdoors can lead to dehydration, heat stroke and heart strain. Doctors in Nepal who examined returning bodies and records also pointed to crowded housing, poor access to healthcare, debt and homesickness, including deaths by suicide.
What Qatar and FIFA said
Qatar's government said the death rate among these communities was within the range expected for a population of that size and age, that the figure included many people in non-manual jobs, and that every death was a tragedy. FIFA said it had investigated incidents on its projects and disputed what it called inaccurate claims about the number of deaths.
The official numbers for World Cup sites were small. The Supreme Committee, which organised the tournament, reported three work-related deaths and 37 non-work-related deaths on its stadium projects since 2014. Then, in a television interview aired on 30 November 2022, its secretary general, Hassan Al Thawadi, said deaths on World Cup-related work were "between 400 and 500." The gap between those figures shows how much depends on definitions.
Max Tunon, head of the International Labour Organization office in Qatar, cautioned that the Guardian's count included all deaths in the migrant population and could not separate workplace injuries from other causes. That is a reason to study the data more carefully, not a reason to dismiss it.
The kafala system and labour reforms
About nine in ten people living in Qatar are foreign nationals, and its total population is under three million. Most low-paid workers came through recruitment agencies, often paying large fees and arriving in debt. For years the kafala sponsorship system tied workers to a single employer, who could block them from changing jobs or leaving the country.
Under international pressure, Qatar began reforms from 2017 and, by 2020-21, had largely dismantled kafala, introduced a minimum wage of 1,000 riyals a month (about $275) plus allowances for food and housing, created a fund for workers whose wages were stolen, and restricted outdoor work in the hottest hours. Amnesty and other groups said the laws were real progress but were unevenly enforced: wage theft and fees for changing jobs remained common, and workers still cannot form unions or strike. Rights groups asked FIFA to fund a $440 million compensation scheme, equal to the tournament's prize money.
How Qatar won the tournament
FIFA's executive committee chose Qatar on 2 December 2010 in Zürich, where it won in the fourth round with 14 votes, despite an evaluation that called the bid high-risk. Allegations of bribery followed, and the vote was later swept into the wider FIFA corruption scandals that led to the 2015 US prosecutions. Qatar has always denied wrongdoing.
Qatar had never qualified for a World Cup before hosting one, although it went on to win the Asian Cup in 2019. Because of the summer heat, the tournament was moved to 20 November to 18 December 2022, the first men's World Cup held outside the usual June-July window. Estimates of its total cost reached over $220 billion, though Qatari officials said only about $8 billion was spent on the tournament itself.
Human rights beyond labour
Critics also raised Qatar's laws on sexuality. Same-sex relations are illegal: the penal code sets one to three years in prison, and some summaries cite up to seven. A death sentence is theoretically possible for Muslims under sharia law, but no such execution has been recorded. Several European teams planned armband protests before the tournament, which FIFA blocked with threats of sanctions.
What the numbers should mean to fans
The 6,500 figure is not a stadium death toll, but it is a record of thousands of young men who left home to work and came back in coffins, often without a clear cause of death or any compensation. The fairest reading is that Qatar's building boom, accelerated by the World Cup, depended on a labour system that left workers exposed to heat, debt and poor investigation of their deaths.
For fans who care about this, the practical steps are modest but real: support organisations that track the welfare of migrant workers, ask national football associations what conditions they set for future tournaments, and watch how labour rules are enforced at the next mega-events, including the 2034 World Cup awarded to Saudi Arabia.
Sources: The Guardian, VOA News, TBS News, Wikipedia: 2022 FIFA World Cup, Wikipedia: LGBTQ rights in Qatar.
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