It’s a pretty sweet deal to be an Emirati, in the year 2013.

Life in this region was very, very hard before oil, and oil in any significant amount came on line only a half-century ago. There are elders in this country who personally knew a life of subsistence farming and pearl diving … and serious poverty.

The author of From Rags to Riches, a well-read book in the region, grew up in the tough times of the 1950s, and he remembered his kandura had no pockets — because he had nothing to put in pockets, anyway.

Then came the oil. And billions of dollars annually.

The government here is not shy about spreading the wealth among citizens.

Today, 1,300 Emirati families in Abu Dhabi will get the keys to their new homes. Courtesy of the state.

The National story, above, notes that the residencies are what is known here as “villas”. That generally means homes of no more than three stories, more horizontal than vertical, with lots of space inside.

Think “suburbia”, and that’s the vibe. Plus, Emiratis will be living among Emiratis. No expats in the way. Some citizens prefer that.

(Mainly, villas in Abu Dhabi city are subdivided into a half dozen or more separate rental properties; these are one-family residences.)

The story describes the homes as “three, four and five” bedroom places.

Not small. Not at all like the cramped “projects” of America or “estates” of Britain. Not at all like the tall, grim, cookie-cutter public housing of much of the world.

The project eventually will have 4,857 villas, given to citizens (one family per home), and that is a significant number — given that the Emirati population in the UAE is not quite 1 million.

The government here also supplies generous amounts of money to citizens when they are married, and full medical insurance. And all meaningful government jobs go to Emiratis, well-paying jobs that apparently are pretty much impossible to lose.

Think of the “cradle-to-grave” systems of northern Europe … except with significantly more generous benefits — and that’s modern life as an Emirati, at least in Abu Dhabi.