Demographics of Kuwait

The people residing in the State of Kuwait are primarily Arab in origin, but less than half of them are from the Arabian Peninsula. Many Arabs from nearby states took up residence in Kuwait because of the prosperity brought by oil production after the 1940s. However, following the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in 1991, the Kuwaiti Government undertook a serious effort to reduce the expatriate population. Kuwait still has a sizable Iranian and Indian population.

Seventy-five percent of native Kuwaitis are Sunni Muslims[?], and 25% are Shi'a Muslims[?]. There are very few Kuwaiti Christians. The 79% 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.

Population: 1,973,572
note: includes 1,159,913 non-nationals (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 29.36% (male 295,102; female 284,327)
15-64 years: 68.32% (male 860,318; female 488,004)
65 years and over: 2.32% (male 29,544; female 16,277) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.44% (2000 est.)
note: this rate reflects a return to pre-Gulf crisis immigration of expatriates

Birth rate: 22.04 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 2.45 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 14.77 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.76 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.82 male(s)/female
total population: 1.5 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 11.55 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 76.08 years
male: 75.27 years
female: 76.92 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.26 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Kuwaiti(s)
adjective: Kuwaiti

Ethnic groups: Kuwaiti 45%, other Arab 35%, South Asian 9%, Iranian 4%, other 7%

Religions: Muslim 85% (Sunni 45%, Shi'a 40%), Christian, Hindu, Parsi, and other 15%

Languages: Arabic (official), English widely spoken

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 78.6%
male: 82.2%
female: 74.9% (1995 est.)

See also : Kuwait