Demographics of Kuwait
Encyclopedia
This article is about the demographic
features of the population
of Kuwait
, including population density
, ethnicity
, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Approximately 96% of Kuwait
's population is urbanized while 4% are nomadic or semi-nomadic. The State of Kuwait's current population is estimated at roughly 3-3.5 million people; counting both locals and foreigners. Roughly 1 million (or nearly one third) of Kuwait's population is local, with 2-2.5 million residents registered as foreigners/non-locals. It is estimated that one in every 3–4 people in Kuwait are of Kuwaiti citizenship.
In 2009, more than 580,000 Indian nationals lived in Kuwait making them the single largest expatriate community there. The rest of the foreign population mainly consists of Egypt
ians, Bangladesh
i, Pakistan
i, Filipino
and Sri Lanka
n residents. Other foreigners consist of Europe
an, North America
n and Northeast Asia
n communities – but these are negligible.
As for Kuwait's overall population, 60–65% are Arab
(including Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti Arabs), 30–35% are Asian
(mostly from the Indian subcontinent and Iranian plateau), and 5–10% are signified as "others". "Others" mostly includes Africans (Black), East Asian, or European
.
Non-Arabs (Africans, Persians, East Asians, Europeans, other black or white populations) are generally socially-classed as "Ajam
". "Ajam" is a term to describe a non-Arab.
Racially speaking, Kuwaitis are described usually tan/black. (Beedh, Sumur, respectively)... However the government does not include this in its database. Civil IDs have no form of racial/ethnic identities. Kuwaitis identify themselves as Arabs because Kuwait is an Arab country by constitution. Having said that, not all Kuwaitis are originally Arab. Some Kuwaitis are originally from Persia and other non-Arab countries, however, they assimilated with the Arabs of Kuwait after acquiring Kuwaiti citizenship and are therefore Arabized Arabs. Therefore, while some Kuwaitis originally trace themselves back to Arab origin (specifically the Najd
area or Iraq), other Kuwaitis can trace themselves back to Iran and a few other non-Arab origins.
Kuwaitis are predominantly Muslim
, though there are a few Christian
s or atheists. 95% of Kuwait's population is Muslim (Sunni 55%, Shi'a 45%), and 5% is another religion (includes Christian, Hindu, Parsi). Some other minor Muslim sects do exist in Kuwait's society, but in very small or rare numbers. There are small numbers of Kuwaiti Christians
and Jews
. The 93% literacy rate, one of the Arab world's highest, is due to extensive government support for the education system. Public school education, including Kuwait University
, is free, but access is restricted for foreign residents. The government sends qualified students abroad for degrees not offered at Kuwait University. About 1,000 Kuwaitis are currently studying in U.S. universities.
Kuwait's official language is Arabic, though only roughly half the country speaks the language primarily. Most foreigners speak Hindi
, Urdu
, Filipino
or Bengali
. Most Kuwaitis are also bilingual in that they speak more than one language. E.g. English
, Persian
, etc.
Kuwait has numerous cases of illegal immigration
. It is thought that there are at least 10,000–15,000 illegal immigrants in the country. These immigrants were not deported back to their homelands after their contracts expired. The population of illegals is increasing by 5,000 individuals each year. It is a hard task deporting or catching the citizens. The last solution would be to naturalize them, but in this case it would affect the demographics of Kuwait significantly.
Other population difficulties encountered in Kuwait involves stateless people who claim residency for Kuwait. Critics argue that these people migrated from Iraq
and Saudi Arabia
after the economic boom of Kuwait. Since Kuwait's standard of living
increased, many have flocked to the country. Most stateless people are Arabs, and count up to 100,000 people. Some are slowly naturalized through different legislative processes, which is ultimately increasing the Arab population of Kuwaiti people. Most obtain nationality by marrying Kuwaiti women. 30–35% of stateless men in adulthood (capable of marital status) have married Kuwait women, and this number is rising.
Some encourage the assimilation of stateless and illegal people.
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
features of the population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, including population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
, ethnicity
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Approximately 96% of Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
's population is urbanized while 4% are nomadic or semi-nomadic. The State of Kuwait's current population is estimated at roughly 3-3.5 million people; counting both locals and foreigners. Roughly 1 million (or nearly one third) of Kuwait's population is local, with 2-2.5 million residents registered as foreigners/non-locals. It is estimated that one in every 3–4 people in Kuwait are of Kuwaiti citizenship.
In 2009, more than 580,000 Indian nationals lived in Kuwait making them the single largest expatriate community there. The rest of the foreign population mainly consists of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ians, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
i, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i, Filipino
Overseas Filipino
An Overseas Filipino is a person of Philippine origin who lives outside of the Philippines. This term applies both to people of Filipino ancestry who are citizens or residents of a different country and to those Filipino citizens abroad on a more temporary status.Most overseas Filipinos migrate to...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n residents. Other foreigners consist of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n and Northeast Asia
Northeast Asia
Northeast Asia and Northeastern Asia refers to the northeastern subregion of Asia. Though the precise definition of Northeast Asia changes according to context, it always includes Japan and the Korean Peninsula, and is sometimes used to refer to these two regions exclusively.-Definitions:The...
n communities – but these are negligible.
As for Kuwait's overall population, 60–65% are Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
(including Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti Arabs), 30–35% are Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
(mostly from the Indian subcontinent and Iranian plateau), and 5–10% are signified as "others". "Others" mostly includes Africans (Black), East Asian, or European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
.
Non-Arabs (Africans, Persians, East Asians, Europeans, other black or white populations) are generally socially-classed as "Ajam
Ajam
Ajam is a word used in Persian and Arabic literature but with different concepts. Ajam in Arabic has two primary meanings: "non-Arab" and "Persian".literally it has other meaning "one who is illiterate in language", "silent", or "mute", and refers to non-Arabs in general, or people of Southern...
". "Ajam" is a term to describe a non-Arab.
Racially speaking, Kuwaitis are described usually tan/black. (Beedh, Sumur, respectively)... However the government does not include this in its database. Civil IDs have no form of racial/ethnic identities. Kuwaitis identify themselves as Arabs because Kuwait is an Arab country by constitution. Having said that, not all Kuwaitis are originally Arab. Some Kuwaitis are originally from Persia and other non-Arab countries, however, they assimilated with the Arabs of Kuwait after acquiring Kuwaiti citizenship and are therefore Arabized Arabs. Therefore, while some Kuwaitis originally trace themselves back to Arab origin (specifically the Najd
Najd
Najd or Nejd , literally Highland, is the central region of the Arabian Peninsula.-Boundaries :The Arabic word nejd literally means "upland" and was once applied to a variety of regions within the Arabian Peninsula...
area or Iraq), other Kuwaitis can trace themselves back to Iran and a few other non-Arab origins.
Kuwaitis are predominantly Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, though there are a few Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s or atheists. 95% of Kuwait's population is Muslim (Sunni 55%, Shi'a 45%), and 5% is another religion (includes Christian, Hindu, Parsi). Some other minor Muslim sects do exist in Kuwait's society, but in very small or rare numbers. There are small numbers of Kuwaiti Christians
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Jews
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. The 93% literacy rate, one of the Arab world's highest, is due to extensive government support for the education system. Public school education, including Kuwait University
Kuwait University
Kuwait University was established in October 1966, five years after Kuwait's independence from British Colonization. KU started with only two faculties, namely the Faculty of Science, Arts and Education; and a Women's College. The university had 418 students enrolled and 31 faculty members. By ,...
, is free, but access is restricted for foreign residents. The government sends qualified students abroad for degrees not offered at Kuwait University. About 1,000 Kuwaitis are currently studying in U.S. universities.
Kuwait's official language is Arabic, though only roughly half the country speaks the language primarily. Most foreigners speak Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, Filipino
Filipino language
This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...
or Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
. Most Kuwaitis are also bilingual in that they speak more than one language. E.g. English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, etc.
Kuwait has numerous cases of illegal immigration
Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
. It is thought that there are at least 10,000–15,000 illegal immigrants in the country. These immigrants were not deported back to their homelands after their contracts expired. The population of illegals is increasing by 5,000 individuals each year. It is a hard task deporting or catching the citizens. The last solution would be to naturalize them, but in this case it would affect the demographics of Kuwait significantly.
Other population difficulties encountered in Kuwait involves stateless people who claim residency for Kuwait. Critics argue that these people migrated from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
after the economic boom of Kuwait. Since Kuwait's standard of living
Standard of living
Standard of living is generally measured by standards such as real income per person and poverty rate. Other measures such as access and quality of health care, income growth inequality and educational standards are also used. Examples are access to certain goods , or measures of health such as...
increased, many have flocked to the country. Most stateless people are Arabs, and count up to 100,000 people. Some are slowly naturalized through different legislative processes, which is ultimately increasing the Arab population of Kuwaiti people. Most obtain nationality by marrying Kuwaiti women. 30–35% of stateless men in adulthood (capable of marital status) have married Kuwait women, and this number is rising.
Some encourage the assimilation of stateless and illegal people.
CIA World Factbook demographic statistics
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.Age structure
- 0–14 years: 25.8% (male 348,816; female 321,565)
- 15–64 years: 72.2% (male 1,153,433; female 720,392)
- 65 years and over: 2% (male 25,443; female 25,979) (2011 est.)
Gender ratio
- at birth: 1.047 male(s)/female
- under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
- 15–64 years: 1.79 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over: 1.65 male(s)/female
- total population: 1.54 male(s)/female (2011 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
- total population: 77.09 years
- male: 75.95 years
- female: 78.3 years (2011 est.)
Ethnic groups (by nationality)
- Kuwaiti 45%
- Other Arab nationals 35%
- South Asian 9%
- Iranian 4%
- Other 7%
Languages
- Arabic (official)
- English widely spoken
- BalochiBalochi languageBalochi is a Northwestern Iranian language. It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan, Pakistan, eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.-Vowels:The Balochi vowel...
- HindiHindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
/UrduUrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an... - Bangla
- Other languages are spoken by the large South AsiaSouth AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
n expatriate population.
Historical demographics
| Religion | Men 1975 (1980) | Women 1975 (1980) | Total 1975 (1980) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 22,711 (51,354) | 22,007 (35,728) | 44,718 (87,082) |
| Muslims | 517,808 (702,992) | 426,973 (539,716) | 944,781 (1,242,708) |
| Other | 3,249 (22,293) | 2,089 (5,869) | 5,338 (28,162) |
| Total | 543,768 (776,639) | 451,069 (581,313) | 994,837 (1,357,952) |