202,291
Students in schools
That puts Sohar at 2 of 11 on the official table.
Back to Al Batinah North
Sohar · Topic file
Can Sohar carry stronger schools, clinics and everyday services?
The story is not only about investment. It is also about whether families can build their lives — schooling, healthcare, daily services — without having to default back to Muscat. For Sohar, the honest read comes down to students in schools and hospital beds.
805
Hospital beds
That puts Sohar at 3 of 11 on the official table.
The numbers
Where Sohar stands today, chart by chart
Students in schools
Total students in schools by governorate in the 2025/2026 academic year.
NCSI Statistical Year Book 2026, Schools, Classrooms, Students and Teachers by Governorate (grand total table).
Hospital beds
Total government and private hospital beds by governorate in 2025.
NCSI Statistical Year Book 2026, No. Of Government & Private Sectors Hospitals & Health Units Distributed by Governorates and Number of Bed.
The trend over time
How Sohar got here
Students in schools
How many children the governorate's schools are actually carrying each academic year — the simplest stand-in for how much pressure the local education system is under.
2024/25 and 2025/26 totals from the Schools, Classrooms, Students and Teachers by Governorate tables in Statistical Year Books 2025 and 2026.
These are academic-year counts, not calendar years.
Hospital beds
Hospital beds in the governorate, public and private combined. A blunt but useful read on how deep the local health system actually is.
2024 and 2025 values from Table 2-17, Statistical Year Books 2025 and 2026. Totals here cover government and private hospital beds only — health-centre beds are not added in.
Reading the charts
What the latest tables are really saying
- Sohar is showing 202,291 on students in schools. That puts Sohar at 2 of 11 on the official table.
- Sohar is showing 805 on hospital beds. That puts Sohar at 3 of 11 on the official table.
- The MOHUP strategy positions Al Batinah North around Sohar, Liwa and Suwayq, with gateway logistics, industrial activity, agricultural processing, mining and tourism all meant to reinforce one another inside a more coherent urban system. A bigger regional role also means stronger schools and clinics closer to where people actually live.
Why this file matters
The strategy Sohar is being measured against
Whether schools and hospitals are keeping up — the simplest read on whether people can build a life here.
The MOHUP strategy positions Al Batinah North around Sohar, Liwa and Suwayq, with gateway logistics, industrial activity, agricultural processing, mining and tourism all meant to reinforce one another inside a more coherent urban system.
- Sohar is meant to function as a national gateway city using its port and airport to expand access to foreign markets.
- Suwayq is supposed to grow as a major agricultural processing centre in the south of the governorate.
- The strategy aims to connect logistics, mining, tourism and environmental management into a single regional growth platform.
Related topic files
Five more ways into the Al Batinah North execution map
These linked files cover the other live tests in the same governorate, so the numbers on capital, jobs, services, tourism, utilities, and urban buildout can be read together instead of in isolation.
Al Batinah North topic file
Capital deployment
How much money is actually being committed, and whether the property market is picking up the signal.
Al Batinah North topic file
Urban buildout and housing
Population, permits and whether the place is actually being built fast enough for the role it has been handed.
Al Batinah North topic file
Jobs and enterprise
The jobs and businesses that show whether the governorate has a working economy, or just a project list.
Al Batinah North topic file
Tourism and place economy
Hotels, occupancy, and whether the place is becoming a real destination or just adding rooms.
Al Batinah North topic file
Infrastructure and utilities
Roads, water and the quiet base layer that usually decides whether any of the rest of it actually works.