Dubai has changed drastically over the last few decades. In the 1980s, the UAE city’s population was about 370,000 and its shoreline was mostly natural with some man-made harbors. As of 2020, 3.4 million people lived in Dubai and many artificial islands were built along the shore. Palm Jebel Ali, Palm Jumeirah, and the World Islands are some of the largest island projects, collectively using over 400 million cubic meters of reclaimed sand to construct.