Demographics of Kuwait

Kuwaiti youth celebrating Kuwait's independence and liberation, 2011

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Kuwait.

Expatriates accounted for 70% of Kuwait's total population in 2014, Kuwaitis are only 30% of the total population. The government and people of Kuwait consider the high level of expatriates to be a problem. Kuwait consists of six governorates: Hawalli, Asimah (Capital), Farwaniyah, Jahra, Ahmadi and Mubarak Al-Kabeer.

The majority of Kuwait's citizen population is Muslim, but there is a small population of other religions. The country has a large community of expatriate Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and Sikhs.^[1] Kuwait has a native Christian community.^[2] There is also a small number of Bahá'í Kuwaiti citizens.^[1]

Governorates

Kuwait consists of six governorates: Hawalli, Asimah, Farwaniyah, Jahra, Ahmadi and Mubarak Al-Kabeer.^[3] Most Kuwaitis live in the governorates of Hawalli, Asimah and Farwaniyah.^[3] The governorates of Jahra, Ahmadi and Mubarak Al-Kabeer are outlying areas (manatiq kharijiyya).^[3]

Historical populations

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1950	152,000	—
1960	264,000	+73.7%
1970	753,000	+185.2%
1980	1,377,000	+82.9%
1990	2,088,000	+51.6%
2000	1,941,000	−7.0%
2010	2,737,000	+41.0%
Source:[4]

Population of Kuwait according to nationality

census year	Kuwaiti			non-Kuwaiti			Total	Change
	Number	%		Number	%		Number	%
1975	307,755	30.9		687,082	69		994,837	-
1985	470,473	35		1,226,828	65		1,697,301	70.6
1995	653,616	41.5		921,954	58.5		1,575,570	-7.2
2005	860,324	39.2		1,333,327	60.8		2,193,651	39.2
2011	1,089,969	36		1,975,881	64		3,065,850	39.8
2013	1,403,962	33		2,291,354	67		3,695,316	20

The biggest population difficulty in Kuwait involves the Bedoon, a stateless people numbering just over 100,000 who are classed as illegal residents and who are trying to claim Kuwaiti citizenship.^[5] Critics argue that these people are Arabs who migrated from Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia; a large part of the problem the Bedoon face is that these other states do not consider them as their nationals either.^[6] In 2013, a law was passed to grant citizenship to 4,000 of these people as part of an attempt to resolve the problem. However, the government has said that only a third of the Bedoon would qualify for possible naturalization as it considers that the rest hold other nationalities, with officials alleging that they have destroyed their documents in order to claim Kuwaiti citizenship.^[5]

Religions

Most expats in Kuwait are Muslim, Hindu, Christian,Sikhs or Buddhist.^[1] Kuwait also has a native Christian community. In 1999, there were 400 Christian Kuwaiti citizens.^[2] There is also a small number of Bahá'í Kuwaiti citizens.^[1] Most of Kuwait's citizen population is Muslim; there are no official figures, but it is estimated that 60%–70% are Sunni and 30%–40% are Shias.^[7][8] There are 100,000 non-citizen Shia residents in Kuwait and there are no estimates for the non-citizen Sunni residents.^[1]

Vital statistics

UN estimates

^[9]

Period	Live births per year	Deaths per year	Natural change per year	CBR*	CDR*	NC*	TFR*	IMR*
1950-1955	8 000	2 000	6 000	43.7	12.3	31.4	7.21	113
1955-1960	9 000	2 000	7 000	40.0	9.6	30.4	7.21	90
1960-1965	16 000	3 000	13 000	43.4	7.6	35.8	7.31	70
1965-1970	30 000	4 000	26 000	48.8	6.3	42.5	7.41	53
1970-1975	43 000	5 000	38 000	47.6	5.2	42.4	6.90	40
1975-1980	49 000	5 000	44 000	40.7	4.2	36.5	5.89	29
1980-1985	58 000	5 000	52 000	37.1	3.4	33.6	5.10	22
1985-1990	51 000	5 000	45 000	26.5	2.8	23.7	3.34	16
1990-1995	33 000	5 000	28 000	18.0	2.7	15.3	2.20	13
1995-2000	43 000	5 000	38 000	24.1	3.0	21.1	2.93	11
2000-2005	39 000	6 000	32 000	18.5	3.1	15.4	2.24	10
2005-2010	47 000	8 000	39 000	18.7	3.1	15.6	2.32	8
* CBR = crude birth rate (per 1000); CDR = crude death rate (per 1000); NC = natural change (per 1000); IMR = infant mortality rate per 1000 births; TFR = total fertility rate (number of children per woman)

Registered births and deaths

^[10][11]

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)
1961	296	12 942	2 504	10 438	43.7	8.4	35.2
1962	337	15 204	2 180	13 024	45.1	6.5	38.6
1963	384	17 397	2 139	15 258	45.4	5.6	39.8
1964	433	19 428	2 618	16 810	44.8	6.0	38.8
1965	484	21 950	2 454	19 496	45.3	5.1	40.3
1966	536	23 732	2 813	20 919	44.3	5.3	39.0
1967	588	28 334	3 111	25 223	48.2	5.3	42.9
1968	642	33 026	3 346	29 680	51.5	5.2	46.3
1969	697	35 135	3 378	31 757	50.4	4.8	45.6
1970	753	33 842	3 735	30 107	44.9	5.0	40.0
1971	811	35 558	3 832	31 726	43.8	4.7	39.1
1972	870	37 688	4 149	33 539	43.3	4.8	38.5
1973	931	40 165	4 601	35 564	43.2	4.9	38.2
1974	992	41 060	4 693	36 367	41.4	4.7	36.7
1975	1 054	42 861	4 778	38 083	40.7	4.5	36.1
1976	1 116	46 039	4 661	41 378	41.3	4.2	37.1
1977	1 179	46 864	5 365	41 499	39.8	4.6	35.2
1978	1 243	48 010	4 936	43 074	38.6	4.0	34.7
1979	1 309	48 273	5 028	43 245	36.9	3.8	33.0
1980	1 377	51 090	4 932	46 158	37.1	3.6	33.5
1981	1 446	52 041	4 678	47 363	36.0	3.2	32.8
1982	1 514	54 257	4 992	49 265	35.8	3.3	32.5
1983	1 584	55 617	4 654	50 963	35.1	2.9	32.2
1984	1 660	56 776	4 544	52 232	34.2	2.7	31.5
1985	1 742	55 087	4 711	50 376	31.6	2.7	28.9
1986	1 836	53 845	4 390	49 455	29.3	2.4	26.9
1987	1 937	52 412	4 113	48 299	27.1	2.1	24.9
1988	2 028	53 080	4 581	48 499	26.2	2.3	23.9
1989	2 084	52 858	4 628	48 230	25.4	2.2	23.1
1990	2 088
1991	2 031	20 609	3 380	17 229	10.1	1.7	8.5
1992	1 924	34 817	3 369	31 448	18.1	1.8	16.3
1993	1 796	37 379	3 441	33 938	20.8	1.9	18.9
1994	1 688	38 868	3 464	35 404	23.0	2.1	21.0
1995	1 628	41 169	3 781	37 388	25.3	2.3	23.0
1996	1 628	44 620	3 812	40 808	27.4	2.3	25.1
1997	1 679	42 815	4 017	38 798	25.5	2.4	23.1
1998	1 764	41 424	4 216	37 208	23.5	2.4	21.1
1999	1 857	41 135	4 187	36 948	22.1	2.3	19.9
2000	1 941	41 843	4 227	37 616	21.6	2.2	19.4
2001	2 010	41 342	4 364	36 978	20.6	2.2	18.4
2002	2 070	43 490	4 342	39 148	21.0	2.1	18.9
2003	2 127	43 982	4 424	39 558	20.7	2.1	18.6
2004	2 189	47 274	4 793	42 481	21.6	2.2	19.4
2005	2 264	50 941	4 784	46 157	22.5	2.1	20.4
2006	2 351	52 759	5 247	47 512	22.4	2.2	20.2
2007	2 448	53 587	5 293	48 294	21.9	2.2	19.7
2008	2 548	54 571	5 701	48 870	21.4	2.2	19.2
2009	2 778	56 503	6 266	50 237	20.3	2.3	18.1
2010	2 933	57 533	5 448	52 085	19.6	1.9	17.8
2011	3 099	58 198	5 339	52 859	18.8	1.7	17.1
2012		59 753	5 950	53 803	18.3	1.8	16.5
2013		59 426	5 909	53 517	17.2	1.7	15.5
2014		61 313	6 031	55 282

Structure of the population ^[12]

Structure of the population (10.04.2011) (Census - provisional) :

Age Group	Male	Female	Total	%
Total	1 738 372	1 327 478	3 065 850	100
0-4	138 688	128 265	266 953	8,71
5-9	116 278	109 797	226 075	7,37
10-14	104 034	98 101	202 135	6,59
15-19	96 131	87 401	183 532	5,99
20-24	132 661	128 040	260 701	8,50
25-29	219 431	173 309	392 740	12,81
30-34	249 945	159 492	409 437	13,35
35-39	201 460	133 526	334 986	10,93
40-44	170 762	108 085	278 847	9,10
45-49	121 610	76 804	198 414	6,47
50-54	83 022	48 509	131 531	4,29
55-59	49 821	30 238	80 059	2,61
60-64	25 262	18 688	43 950	1,43
65+	29 267	27 223	56 490	1,84

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percent
0-14	359 000	336 163	695 163	22,67
15-64	1 350 105	964 092	2 314 197	75,48
65+	29 267	27 223	56 490	1,84

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.)

Population growth rate

• 1.986% (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.)

Total fertility rate

• 2.64 children born/woman (2011 est.)

Nationality

• noun: Kuwaiti(s)
• adjective: Kuwaiti

Ethnic groups (by nationality)

From the 2011 census and official 2012 figures of non-nationals:

• Kuwaiti 36%, other Arab 21%, South Asian 34%, Iranian 1% other 8%.

Country	Population	Total	Non-nationals as proportion of whole
Indian	647,000
Bangladeshi	189,000
Pakistani	120,000
Sri Lankan	110,000
Nepali	52,000
Afghan	14,000
Total South Asia		1,132,000	34%
Egyptian	453,000
Syrian	131,000
Jordanian/Palestinian	53,000
Lebanese	42,000
Iraqi	15,000
Yemeni	11,000
Total Other Arab		705,000	21%
Iranian	43,000	43,000	1%
Filipino	142,000
Ethiopian	74,000
Indonesian	19,000
American	13,000
Other		248,000	8%
Total		2,128,000	64%

Note:

• 20,000 US service personnel not included.
• Unlikely that the ~100,000 Bedoon are included.

Languages

• Arabic (official)
• English widely spoken
• Persian
• Balochi
• Hindustani
• Bengali
• Malayalam
• Pashto
• Tamil
• Other languages are spoken by the large South Asian expatriate population.

Literacy

• definition: age 15 and over can read and write
• total population: 94%

References

1. "International Religious Freedom Report for 2007". US State Department. 2007.
2. "International Religious Freedom Report". US State Department. 1999.
3. "2013 Population Census". Government of Kuwait. 2013.
4. World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision Archived February 28, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Kuwait MPs pass law to naturalise 4,000 stateless Bidun". BBC News. 20 March 2013.
6. "Stateless in Kuwait: Who Are the Bidoon?". Open Society Foundations. 24 March 2011.
7. "International Religious Freedom Report". US State Department. 2002.
8. "The Evolution of U. S.-Turkish Relations in a Transatlantic Context" (PDF). Strategic Studies Institute. p. 87. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2013. Shiites comprise 60 percent of the population in Bahrain, 40 percent in Kuwait, 14 percent in Saudi Arabia, and 35 pefrcent in Lebanon.
9. World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision
10. United nations. Demographic Yearbooks
11. Central Statistical Bureau
12. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2.htm