Demographics of Kuwait

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Kuwait (Arabic: سكان الكويت‎).

Kuwaiti youth celebrating Kuwait's independence and liberation, 2011

Expatriates account for around 70% of Kuwait's total population, with Kuwaitis constituting 28%-32% of the total population. The government and some Kuwaiti citizens consider the proportion of expatriates (which has been relatively stable since the mid-1970s) to be a problem, and in 2016 the number of deportations increased.[1] Kuwait consists of six governorates: Hawalli, Asimah (Capital), Farwaniyah, Jahra, Ahmadi and Mubarak Al-Kabeer.[2]

Governorates

Further information: Governorates of Kuwait

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]

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
	Population	%		Population	%		Population	%
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]

Vital statistics

UN estimates

[7]

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

[8][9]

	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	TFR
1961	296,000	12,942	2,504	10,438	43.7	8.4	35.2
1962	337,000	15,204	2,180	13,024	45.1	6.5	38.6
1963	384,000	17,397	2,139	15,258	45.4	5.6	39.8
1964	433,000	19,428	2,618	16,810	44.8	6.0	38.8
1965	484,000	21,950	2,454	19,496	45.3	5.1	40.3
1966	536,000	23,732	2,813	20,919	44.3	5.3	39.0
1967	588,000	28,334	3,111	25,223	48.2	5.3	42.9
1968	642,000	33,026	3,346	29,680	51.5	5.2	46.3
1969	697,000	35,135	3,378	31,757	50.4	4.8	45.6
1970	753,000	33,842	3,735	30,107	44.9	5.0	40.0
1971	811,000	35,558	3,832	31,726	43.8	4.7	39.1
1972	870,000	37,688	4,149	33,539	43.3	4.8	38.5
1973	931,000	40,165	4,601	35,564	43.2	4.9	38.2
1974	992,000	41,060	4,693	36,367	41.4	4.7	36.7
1975	1,054,000	42,861	4,778	38,083	40.7	4.5	36.1
1976	1,116,000	46,039	4,661	41,378	41.3	4.2	37.1
1977	1,179,000	46,864	5,365	41,499	39.8	4.6	35.2
1978	1,243,000	48,010	4,936	43,074	38.6	4.0	34.7
1979	1,309,000	48,273	5,028	43,245	36.9	3.8	33.0
1980	1,377,000	51,090	4,932	46,158	37.1	3.6	33.5
1981	1,446,000	52,041	4,678	47,363	36.0	3.2	32.8
1982	1,514,000	54,257	4,992	49,265	35.8	3.3	32.5
1983	1,584,000	55,617	4,654	50,963	35.1	2.9	32.2
1984	1,660,000	56,776	4,544	52,232	34.2	2.7	31.5
1985	1,742,000	55,087	4,711	50,376	31.6	2.7	28.9
1986	1,836,000	53,845	4,390	49,455	29.3	2.4	26.9
1987	1,937,000	52,412	4,113	48,299	27.1	2.1	24.9
1988	2,028,000	53,080	4,581	48,499	26.2	2.3	23.9
1989	2,084,000	52,858	4,628	48,230	25.4	2.2	23.1
1990	2,088,000
1991	2,031,000	20,609	3,380	17,229	10.1	1.7	8.5
1992	1,924,000	34,817	3,369	31,448	18.1	1.8	16.3
1993	1,796,000	37,379	3,441	33,938	20.8	1.9	18.9
1994	1,688,000	38,868	3,464	35,404	23.0	2.1	21.0
1995	1,628,000	41,169	3,781	37,388	25.3	2.3	23.0
1996	1,628,000	44,620	3,812	40,808	27.4	2.3	25.1
1997	1,679,000	42,815	4,017	38,798	25.5	2.4	23.1
1998	1,764,000	41,424	4,216	37,208	23.5	2.4	21.1
1999	1,857,000	41,135	4,187	36,948	22.1	2.3	19.9
2000	1,941,000	41,843	4,227	37,616	21.6	2.2	19.4
2001	2,010,000	41,342	4,364	36,978	20.6	2.2	18.4
2002	2,070,000	43,490	4,342	39,148	21.0	2.1	18.9
2003	2,127,000	43,982	4,424	39,558	20.7	2.1	18.6
2004	2,189,000	47,274	4,793	42,481	21.6	2.2	19.4
2005	2,264,000	50,941	4,784	46,157	22.5	2.1	20.4
2006	2,351,000	52,759	5,247	47,512	22.4	2.2	20.2
2007	2,448,000	53,587	5,293	48,294	21.9	2.2	19.7
2008	2,548,000	54,571	5,701	48,870	21.4	2.2	19.2
2009	2,778,000	56,503	6,266	50,237	20.3	2.3	18.1
2010	2,933,000	57,533	5,448	52,085	19.6	1.9	17.8
2011	3,099,000	58,198	5,339	52,859	18.7	1.7	17.0	1.95
2012		59,753	5,950	53,803	18.4	1.8	16.6	1.86
2013		59,426	5,909	53,517	17.3	1.7	15.6	1.72
2014		61,313	6,031	55,282	16.3	1.6	14.7	1.90
2015		59,271	6,481	52,790	14.9	1.6	13.3
2016		58,797	6,338	52,459	14.4	1.5	12.9	1.47
2017		59,172	6,679	52,493	14.7	1.7	13.0	2.15
2018		56,121	6,807	49,314	13.6	1.7	11.9	2.16

Structure of the population [10]

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

Life expectancy

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	53.6	1985–1990	71.6
1955–1960	58.3	1990–1995	72.4
1960–1965	62.0	1995–2000	73.0
1965–1970	64.9	2000–2005	73.3
1970–1975	67.1	2005–2010	73.7
1975–1980	68.7	2010–2015	74.3
1980–1985	70.3

Source: UN World Population Prospects[11]

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

Population pyramid 2017

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 )[12]

• Kuwaiti 30.4%, other Arab 27.4%, Asian(mostly south) 40.3%, African 1%, other 0.9% (includes European, North American, South American, and Australian) (2018 est.)

Languages[12]

• Arabic (official)
• English spoken widely

Religions[12]

• Muslim (official) 99%
• Christian 1%
• Other and Unspecified 0.2%

Literacy

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

See also

• Religion in Kuwait

References

1. "Kuwait steps up deportations of expat workers". Retrieved 24 October 2018.
2. "Thousands born in Kuwait are stuck in limbo". Retrieved 24 October 2018.
3. "2013 Population Census". Government of Kuwait. 2013. Archived from the original on 2014-03-13. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
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. "World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision". Retrieved 24 October 2018.
8. United nations. Demographic Yearbooks
9. Archived 2013-03-09 at the Wayback Machine Central Statistical Bureau
10. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2.htm
11. "World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Retrieved 2017-07-15.
12. "Middle East ::KUWAIT". CIA The World Factbook.